Women's Super League Grand Final: St Helens to play Leeds

St Helens will face Leeds in the Women's Super League Grand Final at Headingley on 10 October.

In the first of two back-to back semi-finals at the Totally Wicked Stadium, St Helens comfortably beat Castleford 58-0. Leeds Rhinos followed that with a tight 22-18 win over York City Knights.

St Helens remain on course for the treble, having won the Challenge Cup in June and the League Leaders' Shield.

Leeds are the defending champions, having won the Grand Final in 2019.

Saints entirely dominant

St Helens remain unbeaten all year and came into the match having beaten Castleford 50-6 two weeks before in the Super League play-offs. And it proved a similar case again.

Leah Burke scored a hat-trick in a dominant display that saw Saints score 12 tries without reply.

Carrie Roberts was the first to cross the line after only two minutes and from then on the floodgates opened, with seven tries scored in the first half. Chantelle Crowl and captain Jodie Cunningham both got two, with Tara Jones, Paige Travis and Burke adding the rest.

The score could have been higher had it not been for St Helens missing their first five conversions.

Castleford came into the match as underdogs following a disrupted year, after losing head coach Lindsay Anfield to York, as well as a number of players.

They started the second half brighter, with Lacey Owen repeatedly looking dangerous, but were denied twice in sight of the try line as St Helens' defence proved impenetrable.

Shortly after, Jones and Travis scored their second tries to extend the lead to 44-0. Burke made it 48-0 with perhaps the pick of the day for St Helens' 10th, from a succession of crisp passing that culminated in her running down the touchline to score in the right corner.

Rachel Woosey claimed the 11th try, before Burke completed her hat-trick to ensure Saints passed 58 points at the final whistle.

Leeds stage second-half comeback

With last year's Grand Final being called off due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Leeds remain the competition's last winners having won the 2019 title. Yet they had to come from behind in the local derby, against a York City side that was aiming to reach the final in only their first season in the Super League.

It was York who got off to the best start, taking the lead after four minutes with a try by Olivia Wood, with Emma Hardy kicking the conversion.

Hardy then turned try scorer for York's second to make it 10-0, but Leeds did not take long to get on the scoreboard when Natasha Gaines scooped up the ball for a try, after it was knocked forward by York.

Kelsey Gentles extended York's lead to 14-4 after half an hour, but there was little to separate the two sides at half-time.

Leeds gradually pegged their opposition back, first through Courtney Winfield-Hill who made an impressive 60-metre run to score, before two tries from Sophie Nuttall edged the Rhinos in front to 20-14.

Hardy got her second try to set-up a tense final 10 minutes, but Winfield-Hill kicked a late penalty to ensure Leeds have the opportunity to retain their title.