Eight Warriors named in Women’s Origin squad

[josie andrews]

ENGLAND WOMEN’S HEAD COACH STUART BARROW HAS NAMED HIS SQUADS FOR THE UPCOMING ORIGIN CLASH WITH EIGHT WARRIORS NAMED FOR LANCASHIRE.

England Women Head Coach Stuart Barrow has named two regional training squads as preparations continue for the Autumn international against Wales at AMT Headingley on Saturday 2 November.

21-year-old former York Valkyrie second-row Hollie-Mae Dodd is set to make a triumphant return to the international team and will link up with her former teammates for the first time since making the move to Australia’s NRLW side Canberra Raiders.

The newly-crowned Betfred Women’s Super League champions are well represented with Savannah Andrade also included for the first time since 2023 alongside five of her teammates.

The remaining selected players are drawn from four Betfred Women’s Super League sides – Huddersfield Giants, Leeds Rhinos, Wigan Warriors and St Helens. Wigan Warriors have seven players selected for Lancashire, with one – Georgia Wilson – in the squad for Yorkshire.

Training sessions will take place this Wednesday (16 October) involving squads representing Lancashire and Yorkshire with both teams consisting of senior England players alongside some of the games up and coming young talent.

The Lancashire and Yorkshire sides will then face off in an Origin fixture at Boundary Park this Saturday (19 October) before Barrow names his squad to face Wales.

The event is set to be a full celebration of the Women and Girls’ game with the first ever female coaching conference taking place at the venue earlier that day with 50 attendees from across the community and professional game set to attend.

England Women Head Coach, Stuart Barrow, said: “I have to start by congratulating both York Valkyrie and St Helens for producing another brilliant Betfred Women’s Super League Final at the Totally Wicked Stadium. The record crowd and number of viewers watching at home proves that the Women’s game is only on an upward trajectory.

“With our international calendar confirmed up until the 2026 Rugby League World Cup and a historic Ashes series against Australia coming up next year, we want use Saturday’s Origin fixture as a chance to introduce some of the games younger players to a representative environment.

“Whilst they may not be breaking into the starting lineups of their parent clubs just yet, they are on the peripherals, and I think giving them the chance to train and play with some of our senior England players will be beneficial as we start to look ahead to what our squad may look like in the years to come.”

Entrance to Boundary Park on Saturday is free of charge with access available from 1.00pm, parking for spectators is outside the Joe Royle Stand.

And just two weeks later, England Women will play Wales on Saturday November 2 (KO 12noon) – in a double header with the second England v Samoa match (KO 2.30pm) with tickets on sale now.
I
https://wiganwarriors.com/blog/2024/10/ ... gin-squad/

[doc]

Bit of a bump.

This match is free entry for those that want to attend at Boundary Park, Oldham. KO 2pm

[josie andrews]

Half time score

Lancashire were winning 12 - 4 Yorkshite


Full time

Lancashire 20 Yorkshite 12

[Charriots Offiah]

Half time score

Lancashire were winning 12 - 4 Yorkshite


Full time

Lancashire 20 Yorkshite 12

[josie andrews]

Women’s Origin | Davies dazzles for Lancashire

Wigan wing Anna Davies led the way as Lancashire maintained their 2024 Women’s Rugby League Roses supremacy at a sun-drenched Boundary Park – then revealed slightly sheepishly that she was born in Leeds.

“That’s my secret,” the 29-year-old said with a grin, after scoring two excellent tries in Lancashire’s five tries to three win, in a game played in four quarters, with unlimited interchanges and no kicks at goal – an exact repeat, in terms of the try tally, of the Red Rose victory in the year’s previous Origin clash in Dewsbury in June.

“We moved when I was very young and I’ve been travelling around all over really, mostly in Nottingham and then as a student in Bath before I came to Wigan. And you know what it’s like in Lancashire, they welcome you as one of their own.”

Davies will now hope to maintain her place in the England squad for the ABK Beer International against Wales at AMT Headingley on Saturday week, having scored two tries on her debut in France earlier this year.

England head coach Stuart Barrow will name his 19-strong squad for the game on Tuesday, and was impressed by the attacking rugby played by a youthful Lancashire team led superbly by the St Helens and England captain Jodie Cunningham, displaying her usual combination of industry and class.

Yorkshire had struck first when the Huddersfield Giants full-back Amelia Brown surged over on the left.
That was the only try of the first quarter, but Lancashire surged back with three in the space of 11 minutes in the second, with the Wigan youngsters Grace Banks, Jemma Foubister and Issy Rowe a growing influence alongside Beri Salihi and Zoe Harris of St Helens.

Banks provided the final pass for Salihi to score their first on the right, and Eboni Partington – a Grand Final winner with York Valkyrie earlier this month who seemed to relish returning to her Lancashire roots – then surged on to a lovely cut-out ball from Rowe and cut inside from the left touchline for a spectacular score.
Salihi then turned provider for Davies to thunder unstoppably down the right flank, as Lancashire relished the top of the ground conditions.

They extended their lead when Davies added her second 10 minutes into the third quarter, supporting a long-range run from Rowe to pick up from acting half and gallop around the Yorkshire cover.

Now it was Yorkshire’s turn to hit back, with a typically powerful score from Amy Hardcastle, followed by a similar effort from York’s Savannah Andrade – their comeback underpinned by the slick dummy half service from Keara Bennett, supported by her Leeds Rhinos club-mate Bella Sykes, and the graft of Hollie-Mae Dodd who has made a welcome return to England contention ahead of the Wales match after her second season with Canberra Raiders in the NRLW.

But Lancashire sealed it when Cunningham’s pass laid on a deserved try for Eva Hunter, another Wigan youngster who impressed in the centre.

“That was incredible really, seeing the youngsters who have come through the DiSe programme and the under-19s making such a big impact in a match of that quality,” said Derek Hardman, the Lancashire coach who will resume his partnership with Craig Richards as head coaches of St Helens Women next season following Matty Smith’s move to Wigan.

“The teams are a good contrast with Yorkshire having their big middles, and that’s exciting when we put the best of the two teams together for England.”

The other star of the show was the venue, with Oldham’s Boundary Park staging a Women’s Coaching Conference in addition to its first major Women’s Rugby League event.

Squads and Scorers

Lancashire: Wilson; Davies, Hunter, Jones, Partington; Harris, Rowe; Whitfield, Mottershead, Coleman, Travis, Rudge, Cunningham. Interchange: Banks, Salihi, Foubister, Williams, Stott.

Tries – Salihi, Partington, Davies 2, Hunter.

Yorkshire: Brown; Hook, Hardcastle, Cousins, Whitehead; Renouf, Casey; Wood, Bennett, Hoyle, Andrade, Dodd, Sykes. Interchange: Northrop, Sharp, Bell, Stead.

Tries – Brown, Hardcastle, Andrade.

https://www.rugby-league.com/article/63 ... lancashire