St Helens Women beat Castleford Tigers 106-0 on Sunday afternoon at a very warm Mend-A-Hose Jungle!
๐ดโช๏ธ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐! ๐ดโช๏ธ
Our side is locked in to face @CTRLFCWomen this afternoon at The Mend-A-Hose Jungle in our second @TheChallengeCup Group Stage fixture. Lets go, girls! ๐#COYS | #HistoryInTheMaking pic.twitter.com/vPMAnk3f7r
— St.Helens Women (@saints1890women) May 7, 2023
The opening points of the game came four minutes in. Castelford had an attack which resulted in the ball going dead in-goal, off the back of it, Saints marched downfield and Amy Taylor found the in-form Leah Burke who had acres of room ahead of her and made the most of it to open the scoring. Taylor added the two, 0-6 Saints led. Two minutes later, Saints had their second. Saints ran a play down their short-side, as Eboni Partington found the returning Paige Travis, she helped the ball on to Danielle McGifford who reached out to score in the corner. Taylor missed the kick, 0-10 Saints led.
Try number three came 13 minutes in. Emily Rudge broke through a hole in the Tigresses defence, before sprinting over 5o metres to score under the sticks. Taylor added the two, 0-16. A fourth soon followed. Saints created an overlap on their left edge and former Cas player, Shona Hoyle found herself in space to score in the corner. Taylor’s touchline conversion bounced in off the middle post, 0-22.
From the kick off, we had try number five. The ball found its way to our number five, Burke who broke through the Castleford defence from well within her own half and raced away to score under the sticks. Taylor added the extras, 0-28. Debutant, Hannah Roberts then grabbed her first try in the Red V. Tara Jones threw a great cut-out pass to find Burke again on the wing, and she passed the ball to the supporting Roberts on her inside who scored. Taylor again added the two, 0-34.
Burke did grab her third try 24 minutes in though. Partington stuck her head through a gap in Cas’ defence, offloading the ball to Burke who again had space and made the most of it to score. Taylor added another two, 0-40. Another followed almost instantly. Zoe Harris collected the kick off and fed it to Vicky Whitfield, who from well within her own half broke through some tackles and ran over 65 metres to score under the sticks. Taylor added another conversion, 0-46.
A fourth try for Burke came in the 31st minute. Rudge threw a cut-out pass to the wing, Burke stepped inside before pushing off a tackler to add another try to her tally. Taylor added another two points, 0-52. Roberts had her second four minutes before the break. Castleford had a penalty but their kick for touch found Burke, off the back of it Saints moved forward and Roberts stepped inside off the left edge before burrowing under some tacklers to score. Taylor added another conversion, 0-58.
The eleventh and final try of a busy first half came two minutes before the 40 minutes was up. Partington was fed the ball with space ahead of her and she sprinted away to score under the sticks. Taylor added another two points, as Saints led 0-64 at the break in West Yorkshire.
HT' ๐ Tigresses 0-64 Saints ๐
Saints run in eleven first half scores at The Mend-A-Hose Jungle. Burke (4), Roberts (2), McGifford, Rudge, Hoyle, Whitfield and Partington our scorers!#COYS | #HistoryInTheMaking pic.twitter.com/aXmaUyk8EQ
— St.Helens Women (@saints1890women) May 7, 2023
It took just four minutes for Saints to find try number 12. Castleford made an error from the kick off, on the last Harris threw a cut-out pass which allowed McGifford to grab her second try of the afternoon. Taylor added another conversion, 0-70. Partington then had her second minutes later. She threw a dummy which fooled some defenders before sliding over the try-line. Taylor missed the conversion, 0-74.
Roberts then made it a dream debut by completing her hat-trick in the 52nd minute.ย A flowing move down the left ended with Partington finding Roberts who went over in the corner. Taylor was unable to convert, 0-78. Another try quickly followed for the debutant. Saints kept the ball alive, as Burke found Taylor and she set Roberts away for her fourth try in the corner. Taylor added the two, 0-84.
Eight minutes from time, Jones added her name to the long scoring list. Our number nine went for a scoot from the scrum, stretching out to score next to the sticks. Taylor converted, 0-90. Gracie Bradshaw then marked her debut with a try as well. A move down the right edge saw Harris find Partington, she found Bradshaw to score in the right corner. Taylor’s kick bounced out off the post, 0-94.
Two final tries followed. First, Meg Williams grabbed her second try in as many games, as she beat a tackler before stretching out to score under pressure. Taylor converted to bring up the century, o-100. The 19th and final Red V try came from Burke again. Williams made a great run downfield and was able to find an offload to Burke, she stepped inside and raced away to score under the sticks for her fifth try of the game. Taylor added the final two points of the game, as Saints beat Castleford 0-106 at The Mend-A-Hose Jungle on Sunday afternoon in West Yorkshire!
FT' ๐ Tigresses 0-106 Saints ๐
Saints run in 19 tries to win in West Yorkshire. Burke (5), Roberts (4), McGifford (2), Partington (2), Rudge, Hoyle, Whitfield, Jones, Bradshaw & Williams with our tries. Taylor adding 15 conversions!#COYS | #HistoryInTheMaking pic.twitter.com/t7pM2cnLMO
— St.Helens Women (@saints1890women) May 7, 2023
Match Summary
Castleford Tigers Team:ย Kaitlin Varley, Allana Waller, Grace Ashurst-Bagshaw, Emily Johnstone, Lauren Waller, Olivia Atherton, Alisha Nix, Ellie Brown, Olivia-Mae Riding, Stephanie Spence-Hirst, Maddison Rainey, Caitlin Johnson, Maisie Lumb.
Interchanges:ย Abby Cromack, Ruby Parker, Bethannie Seisay-Reynolds, Georgia Smith.
18th Player:ย Brown.
Tries:ย
Conversions:ย
St Helens Women Team:ย Eboni Partington, Danielle McGifford, Paige Travis, Hannah Roberts, Leah Burke, Zoe Harris, Amy Taylor, Shona Hoyle, Tara Jones, Darcy Stott, Megan Williams, Emily Rudge, Chantelle Crowl.
Interchanges:ย Vicky Whitfield, Pip Birchall, Katie Mottershead, Gracie Bradshaw.
18th Player:ย Alyx Bridge.
Tries:ย Leah Burke (4, 20, 24, 31, 79), Danielle McGifford (6, 44), Emily Rudge (13), Shona Hoyle (18), Hannah Roberts (22, 36, 52, 61), Vicky Whitfield (27), Eboni Partington (38, 47), Tara Jones (72), Gracie Bradshaw (74), Meg Williams (78)
Conversions:ย Amy Taylor (15 from 19)
HT:ย 0-64
FT:ย 0-106