WARRINGTON, St Helens, Leeds, York and Wigan have qualified for the RFL Women’s Nines finals – but the revival of rugby league in Wales was showcased at Victoria Park, too.
Some of the biggest names in British women’s rugby league lived up to their reputations by as the Wolves, Saints, Rhinos, Valkyrie and Warriors topped their pools on a well-attended carnival day across three pitches with morning and afternoon sessions.
But Cardiff Demons pushed the Rhinos all the way and are front-runners to grab a wildcard birth at the AJ Bell Stadium finals on June 24 as close-finishing second in their group.
With rugby union in Wales experiencing financial and administrative trouble and the sport as a whole losing players due to concussion-motivated rule changes, the performance of the Demons was a pointer to deeper trend.
Registrations are up in the Valleys and a current member of the WRU Six Nations squad – Charlie Mundy – was part of the Demons’ campaign.
They are still alive in the Challenge Cup and will find out in the coming weeks if they are to be granted the wildcard.
10.30am:
Pitch 1: Warrington 28 Huddersfield 13 (Group 1)
Pitch 2: York 30 Barrow 4 (Group 2)
Pitch 3: St Helens 31 Featherstone 4 (Group 3)
10.55am:
Pitch 1: Leamington 23 Oldham 0(Group 1)
Pitch 2: Hull FC 30 Workington 0 (Group 2)
Pitch 3: Hull KR 27 Newcastle 4 (Group 3)
11.20am:
Pitch 1: Huddersfield 40 Oldham 0 (Group 1)
Pitch 2: York 44 Hull FC 0 (Group 2)
Pitch 3: St Helens 31 Hull KR 0 (Group 3)
11.45am:
Pitch 1: Warrington 38 Leamington 4 (Group 1)
Pitch 2: Barrow 48 Workington 0 (Group 2)
Pitch 3: Featherstone 37 Newcastle 0 (Group 3)
12.10pm:
Pitch 1: Huddersfield 43 Leamington 0(Group 1)
Pitch 2: York 60 Workington 0 (Group 2)
Pitch 3: St Helens 54 Newcastle 0 (Group 3)
12.35pm:
Pitch 1: Warrington 43 Oldham 0 (Group 1)
Pitch 2: Barrow 25 Hull FC 4 (Group 2)
Pitch 1: Hull KR 15 Featherstone 8 (Group 3)
1.30pm:
Pitch 1: Leeds 48 Bradford 0 (Group 4)
Pitch 2: Wigan 26 Leigh 0 (Group 5)
1:55pm:
Pitch 1: Cardiff 26 Salford 4 (Group 4)
Pitch 2: London Broncos 25 Castleford 0 (Group 5)
2:20pm:
Pitch 1: Leeds 36 Salford 0 (Group 4)
Pitch 2: Wigan 29 Castleford 0 (Group 5)
2.45pm:
Pitch 1: Cardiff 32 Bradford 8 (Group 4)
Pitch 2: Leigh 20 London Broncos 8 (Group 5)
3.20pm:
Pitch 1: Leeds 14 Cardiff 7 (Group 4)
Pitch 2: Wigan 27 London Broncos 4 (Group 5)
3.45pm:
Pitch 1: Salford 25 Bradford 0 (Group 4)
Pitch 2: Leigh 18 Castleford 0 (Group 5)
Image: Olly Hassell/SWpix
