The 2018 RFL Women's Super League was the second season of the

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

for female players in clubs affiliated to the

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League is the governing body for professional rugby league in England, and until 1995 for the whole British Isles. The name Rugby Football League previously also referred to the main league competition run by the organisati ...

. The grand final was won by

Wigan Warriors Women The Wigan Warriors Women are an English professional women's rugby league team based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. They were formed in 2018 and played during the second season of the RFL Women's Super League, Women's Super League in 2018 and w ...

, who beat

Leeds Rhinos Women Leeds Rhinos Women are a rugby league team based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team is part of the Leeds Rhinos club and plays in the Women's Super League. They were the RFL Women's Super League champions in 2019 and 2022, and from 20 ...

18–16 at the Grand Final at the

Manchester Regional Arena Manchester Regional Arena is a multipurpose stadium in Manchester, England, primarily used for athletics, football and rugby league. History It was originally developed as the warm-up track for the 2002 Commonwealth Games held at the adjacent ...

. Wigan finished second to League Leaders Shield winners Leeds in the regular season. The defending champions were

Bradford Bulls Women The Bradford Bulls Women are an English professional women's rugby league team based in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Formed in 1999 as an autonomous club, Dudley Hill Thunderbirds, the team was also known as Bradford Thunderbirds and Bradford Cla ...

, but they failed to make the play-offs in 2018. At the end of the regular season, the top four teams met in the play-off semi-finals. First placed Leeds beat fourth placed Castleford, while second placed Wigan beat St Helens who finished third. The winners met in the Grand Final at the

on 13 October.

Teams

Two of the seven teams are newly formed for this season, one is renamed and the other four were in existence before 2018.

Fixtures and results

The fixtures are organised into 14 rounds, with each team only having 12 fixtures this means that every team will have a bye in two rounds of the competition.

Round 1

Bye: Castleford Tigers

Round 2

Bye: Wigan Warriors

Round 3

Bye: York City Knights

Round 4

Bye: Leeds Rhinos

Round 5

Bye: Bradford Bulls

Round 6

Bye: St Helens

Round 7

Bye: Featherstone Rovers

Round 8

Bye: Castleford Tigers

Round 9

Bye: Wigan Warriors

Round 10

Bye: York City Knights

Round 11

Bye: Leeds Rhinos

Round 12

Bye: Bradford Bulls

Round 13

Bye: St Helens

Round 14

Bye: Featherstone Rovers

Regular season standings

Play-offs

Semi-finals

Grand final

The Grand Final was played at the

on 13 October 2018. Neither team existed when the inaugural Grand Final was played in 2017. Leeds were seeking to complete the treble (League Leaders Shield, Challenge Cup and Grand Final winners) in their first season while Wigan were seeking their first ever trophy. Leeds scored first, when Rhiannion Marshall scored a try from close range,

Courtney Hill Courtney Winfield-Hill (; born 9 January 1987) is an Australian born sportswoman who formerly played rugby league for and Leeds Rhinos. Originally Winfield-Hill played cricket as a pace bowler for Queensland Fire and Brisbane Heat, before mo ...

added the conversion. Wigan hit back a few minutes later when (Rachel Thompson scored their first try. The first half remained 6–4 to Leeds until shortly before half-time, when Thompson scored her, and Wigan's second try to make the half-time score 8–6 to Wigan. In the second half Georgia Wilson extended Wigan's lead to 12–6 and Thompson completed her

hat trick A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

to put Wigan further ahead 16–6. Leeds struck back with a Caitlin Beevers solo effort, covering 80 metres from a 20-metre restart, Courtney Hill added the extra two points. With the score at 12–16, Leeds equalised as Suze Hill scored with only three minutes left to play. The conversion attempt was missed, and in stoppage time, Wigan were awarded a penalty which Charlotte Foley kicked to give Wigan victory by 18 points to 16.

References

External links

WOMEN AND GIRLS RUGBY LEAGUE
{{2018 in rugby league RFL Women's Super League 2018 in English rugby league 2018 in English women's sport 2018 in women's rugby league