WiganWarriorsFans.com

HERE’S EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW AHEAD OF WIGAN WARRIORS BETFRED WOMEN’S SUPER LEAGUE PLAY-OFF SEMI-FINAL CLASH AGAINST ST HELENS AT THE TOTALLY WICKED STADIUM ON SUNDAY 22 SEPTEMBER (7:30PM K.O.)

Wigan Warriors Women travel to face League Leaders’ St Helens in the Betfred Women’s Super League Play-off Semi-Final at The Totally Wicked Stadium this Sunday 22 September (7:30pm K.O.) with the winners progressing to the 2024 Grand Final.

Squad News

Head Coach Denis Betts has named his 21-player squad for the fixture. Alice Fisher comes back into the squad to replace Eva Hunter (one match suspension). Mary Coleman successfully challenged a Grade C charge earlier this week and is free to play having been selected in the squad.

1 Grace Banks
2 Anna Davies
4 Molly Jones
5 Ellie’s Derbyshire
7 Emma Knowles
8 Alice Fisher
9 Abbie Singleton
10 Hollie Speakman
12 Mary Coleman
13 Victoria Molyneux
14 Rachel Thompson
21 Jade Gregory-Hasleden
23 Kaitlin Hilton
26 Cerys Jones
27 Bethany Hayes
32 Isabel Rowe
33 Cerys Marsh
37 Jenna Foubister
38 Grace Bradshaw
39 Georgia Wilson
40 Ruby Hunter

Opposition

St Helens Squad

St Helens Head Coach Matty Smith has named an unchanged 21-player squad for the knock-out tie:

1 Beri Salihi
2 Rebecca Rotherham
4 Erin Stott
5 Leah Burke
6 Zoe Harris
7 Faye Gaskin
8 Vicky Whitfield
9 Tara Jones
10 Chantelle Crowl
11 Paige Harris
12 Emily Rudge
13 Jodie Cunningham
14 Naomi Williams
16 Darcy Scott
17 Pip Birchall
19 Katie Mottershead
20 Phoebe Hook
21 Amy Taylor
22 Megan Williams
24 Georgia Sutherland
30 Rachel Woosey


Head-to-Head

The Semi-Final tie will be the third meeting between the two sides in 2024, having played each other home and away, with St Helens claiming wins in both meetings.

Previous 10 meetings:

Wigan 12, St Helens 16 (SLR8, 12/7/24)
St Helens 24, Wigan 8 (SLR5, 31/5/24)
Wigan 4, St Helens 12 (SL-G1, 6/8/23)
St Helens 26, Wigan 4 (SL-G1, 11/6/23)
Wigan 4, St Helens 56 (SL-G1, 28/8/22)
St Helens 44, Wigan 0 (SL-G1, 15/5/22)
St Helens 52, Wigan 0 (SL-PO, 19/9/21)
St Helens 28, Wigan 0 (SL, 15/9/19)
Wigan 4, St Helens 6 (SL, 7/4/19)
Wigan 10, St Helens 6 (SL-PO, 7/10/18)

Coach Quotes

Looking ahead to Sunday’s tie, Head Coach Denis Betts said: “2018 [Grand Final] is something I’ve only seen pictures of but I think the ambition and being part of this Club comes with a will that we want to be in Semi-Finals, be in Finals and be competing in the biggest games.

“That is the expectation that the girls have got, they know where they are and it’s a one off game – anything can happen in a one off game.”

Read the full preview with the Women’s Head Coach HERE.

Kit Check

Our Warriors Women will wear their Azure Blue away kit for Sunday’s fixture. The end of season sale is now on, shop remaining 2024 Kappa Kit HERE.

Match info

Sunday’s fixture will take place at St Helens’ Totally Wicked Stadium with Saints earning the home advantage after finishing top.

The fixture will be part of a historic double header of women’s sport as Liverpool FC also begin their new campaign against Leicester City at 2pm with the stadium set to be turned over from Football to Rugby League in just a matter of hours.

Tickets

Tickets for Sunday’s Semi-Finals at The Totally Wicked Stadium can be purchased in advance right up until kick-off directly from St Helens online HERE. Tickets can also be purchased at the turnstiles of The Totally Wicked Stadium North Stand on the day, with Contactless payments ONLY.

Pricing

Adults – £5
Concessions £3
U16s £2
Full information on the fixture can be found HERE.

How to Follow

Watch Live

Both Betfred Women’s Super League semi-finals will take place live on Sky Sports with Leeds Rhinos v York Valkyrie kicking things off at 5pm before coverage turns to St Helens v Wigan Warriors from 7.30pm.

Listen Live

Listen to free audio commentary of St Helens Women v Wigan Warriors Women from 7:20pm via our Mixlr page HERE. Alternatively, you can simply use the pop out player below:

Social Media

Wigan fans can follow every piece of the action via our social media channels and website.

X (Formerly Twitter) (@WiganWarriorsRL) – full match updates.
Instagram (@wiganwarriorsrl) – half time and full time updates.
Facebook (Wigan Warriors) – half time and full time updates.
Website (www.wiganwarriors.com) – post-match reaction including a match report.

https://wiganwarriors.com/blog/2024/09/ ... emi-final/

Betts on Semi Final

* Denis Betts previews Sunday’s Betfred Women’s Super League Play-off Semi-Final

* Betts: “I know that if we turn up and we’ve got the right attitude then anything can happen on Sunday night.”

* St Helens Women v Wigan Warriors Women, Sunday 22 September, 7.30pm

WOMEN’S HEAD COACH DENIS BETTS HAS GIVEN HIS THOUGHTS AHEAD OF SUNDAY’S BETFRED WOMEN’S SUPER LEAGUE PLAY-OFF SEMI-FINAL AGAINST ST HELENS.

Reflecting on his side’s final round defeat to Leeds Rhinos at The Brick Community Stadium last Friday, Betts said: “On the day we were disappointed but overall we tried really hard, some things didn’t come off for us and we put ourselves in a place where it became uncomfortable to control the ruck. The biggest problem we’ve run into against the big sides this year is ruck control.

The attention now turns to the play-off semi-final this Sunday evening at The Totally Wicked Stadium. Looking ahead to the tie, the Warriors boss said: “We’ve got to go out there and pull ourselves together. We have lost Eva Hunter through suspension which is a massive loss and we’re a little bit beaten up and bruised at the moment.

“We also lost Rease Casey [to injury] a few weeks ago which has hurt us through the middle of the field but we’ll put ourselves in a position where we’ll try and draw some confidence on how we’ve played throughout the year.”

He added: “I know that if we turn up and we’ve got the right attitude then anything can happen on Sunday night.”

This week’s opponents are St Helens who finished as League Leaders after winning the Challenge Cup earlier in the year. On the opponents, Betts said: “They’ve been fantastic, the best side in the competition and they have been all year. They won the Challenge Cup on some fantastic form, they’ve pulled themselves together all year and there’s some great players in their group.

“We have to go there confident that we’ve pushed them close a couple of times this year and if we can get the rub of the green, then who knows.”

Finally, Betts gave his thoughts on the opportunity of potentially making it to the Grand Final, which would be Wigan’s first since winning the competition back in 2018: “2018 is something I’ve only seen pictures of but I think the ambition and being part of this Club comes with a will that we want to be in Semi-Finals, be in Finals and be competing in the biggest games.

“That is the expectation that the girls have got, they know where they are and it’s a one off game – anything can happen in a one off game.”

Tickets for Sunday’s Semi-Finals at The Totally Wicked Stadium can be purchased directly from St Helens online HERE. Full information on the fixture can be found HERE.

https://wiganwarriors.com/blog/2024/09/ ... mi-final/7

Half time

St Helens 6 Wigan Warriors 4

Saints Emily Rudge scored the first try of the game converted by Faye Gaskin

Wigan’s Jenna Foubister scored the try
Isobel Rowe missed the conversion

Watching it on the tv can’t help but feel saints are just too strong for Wigan but let’s hope there’s a comeback

fozzie58 wrote: ↑Sun Sep 22, 2024 8:51 pm Watching it on the tv can’t help but feel saints are just too strong for Wigan but let’s hope there’s a comeback

Said that all season Fozzie & the only teams that have beat us are Saints Leeds & York & they’ve beaten us down the middle. They’re all massive to our girls, but it’s a young team & another year with Denis & I’m sure they will improve again just like this year.

Full time Saints 18 Warriors 4

Saints Tries Leah Burke 2, Rachel Woosey


Warriors -


Will need to improve up the middle if we are wanting to beat the the big 3!

Women’s lose out in semi-final

* Match Report as Wigan Warriors Women were beaten by St Helens Women at The Totally Wicked Stadium.

* Despite Jenna Foubister’s first half try, the Warriors fell short in reaching the Betfred Women’s Super League Grand Final.

* FT | St Helens 18-4 Wigan Warriors.

WIGAN WARRIORS WOMEN WERE BEATEN 18-4 BY ST HELENS WOMEN IN THE PLAY-OFF SEMI-FINAL AT THE TOTALLY WICKED STADIUM.

The Warriors trailed by two points at the break despite a fantastic team move finished off by Jenna Foubister moments after St Helens opened the scoring through Emily Rudge.

Despite a determined defensive performance from the Warriors, St Helens added three more tries to deny Wigan a place in the Betfred Women’s Super League Grand Final.

Report

The Warriors started the semi-final electrically as Ellise Derbyshire offloaded to Isabel Rowe who broke through the St Helens defence on halfway to take Wigan 10m out. The Warriors looked to work the ball to the left edge, however, an interception on the final tackle saw the hosts survive.

St Helens had to defend for most of the early stages, however, they turned defence into attack to open the scoring when Rudge crashed over from close range despite the best efforts of Foubister to hold the ball up. The video referee confirmed the try as Faye Gaskin added the extras to give the hosts a 6-0 lead after 13 minutes.

The Warriors responded instantly when Foubister finished off an outstanding team move to get Wigan back within two points. Anna Davies initially accelerated clear down the right wing before Georgia Wilson evaded the attempted tackle to pass inside to Foubister who forced her way over next to the sticks.

Kaitlin Hilton came off the bench mid-way through the first half to make her 50th appearance, and after withstanding periods of St Helens pressure, the Warriors almost crossed for a second try before the break. Davies found space on the right wing to make metres, but Leah Burke was well-positioned to force the centre into touch as the score remained 6-4 at half time.

A Warriors error from the restart returned possession to St Helens who drove through the middle through Katie Mottershead before the ball was released wide to Burke who slid over in the corner although Gaskin was unable to add the extras.

The hosts extended their lead on 45 minutes when Rudge carried deep inside the Warriors half before the ball was shifted to the left edge where this time Rachael Woosey was able to use an overlapping run to dummy over. The kick from Gaskin was off target as the score remained 14-4.

The Warriors continued to battle as a driving run from Derbyshire took the Warriors deep inside the St Helens before the ball was worked to the opposite edge where Davies attempted to power over, however, multiple tacklers were able to force the centre into touch just short.

Despite keeping St Helens out on multiple occasions, the Warriors were unable to prevent Burke from crossing for her second of the evening with nine minutes remaining. Gaskin’s kick from the touchline dropped short but the hosts saw out the closing stages to reach the Grand Final with an 18-4 win.

St Helens Women: Beri Salihi, Phoebe Hook, Erin Stott, Rachael Woosey, Leah Burke, Zoe Harris, Faye Gaskin, Vicky Whitfield, Tara Jones, Chantelle Crowl, Emily Rudge, Paige Travis, Jodie Cunningham.

Interchange: Naomi Williams, Darcy Stott, Katie Mottershead, Megan Williams.

18th Player: Georgia Sutherland.

Tries: Rudge (13′), Burke (41′, 72′), Woosey (45′).

Goals: Gaskin (1/4).

Wigan Warriors Women: Grace Banks, Anna Davies, Georgia Wilson, Molly Jones, Ellise Derbyshire, Isabel Rowe, Jenna Foubister, Holly Speakman, Carys Marsh, Alice Fisher, Mary Coleman, Victoria Molyneux, Rachel Thompson.

Interchange: Jade Gregory-Haselden, Kaitlin Hilton, Cerys Jones, Ruby Hunter.

18th Player: Abbie Singleton.

Tries: Foubister (17′)

Goals: Rowe (0/1).

Attendance: 1,193.

https://wiganwarriors.com/blog/2024/09/ ... emi-final/

josie andrews wrote: ↑Sun Sep 22, 2024 10:37 pm

fozzie58 wrote: ↑Sun Sep 22, 2024 8:51 pm Watching it on the tv can’t help but feel saints are just too strong for Wigan but let’s hope there’s a comeback

Said that all season Fozzie & the only teams that have beat us are Saints Leeds & York & they’ve beaten us down the middle. They’re all massive to our girls], but it’s a young team & another year with Denis & I’m sure they will improve again just like this year.

I agree Josie,the girls are coming on really well and hopefully now grow together over the few seasons, its been a fine season for me and as long as they continue on this path they will be there or there abouts come next season.

Is this the try of the season from Jenna Foubister? | 'That is fantastic!'

Jenna Foubister finishes off an incredible sequence of play from the Wigan Warriors in what could be the try of the season

https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/1 ... -fantastic