The Great Britain women's national rugby league team, also known as the Great Britain Lionesses, represents

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

Women's rugby league Women's rugby league is the female-only version of Rugby league. There are women's clubs in Australia, Great Britain, and New Zealand, overseen internationally by the Women & Girls Rugby League. Australia, France, England and New Zealand comp ...

. They are administered by 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 Great Britain Lionesses have placed third in every

Women's Rugby League World Cup The Women's Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league tournament, contested by the women's national team of the International Rugby League (IRL). The competition has been held since 2000 in Great Britain and since 2008 has been ...

in which they have competed. In 2006, the RFL announced that after the

2007 All Golds Tour The 2007 All Golds Tour was a tour by the New Zealand national rugby league team, the Kiwis, of Great Britain and France. Conducted as part of the celebrations of a century of rugby league in New Zealand, it was a re-creation of the original New Ze ...

the Great Britain team would no longer compete on a regular basis, and that players would be able to represent

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

at Test level. It is planned that the Great Britain team will come together in future only for occasional tours, same as the

Great Britain Lions The Great Britain national rugby league team represents Great Britain in rugby league. Administered by the Rugby Football League (RFL), the team is nicknamed The Lions. For most of the 20th century, the Great Britain team toured overseas, ...

Results

Notes: * A Great Britain women's rugby league team toured France in 1989 but played only touch football games against French women. They did play a tackle match against a men's Under 21 team, losing 4–10. * There is a possibility that women's internationals were played between Great Britain and France between the 2000 and 2003 World Cups. The 2000 World Cup programme lists previous Test series occurring between 1995 and 1999. An article previewing the 2007 match between England and France mentions that it was the first international to be played by an English or Great Britain side since the 2003 World Cup. * Since the mid-2000s, English players have competed internationally as

History

1996 Tour of Australia

The Great Britain Lionesses toured Australia for the first time in 1996. The team was captained by Lisa McIntosh, with Brenda Dobek as vice-captain. Ian Harris (Hull) was head coach with Jackie Sheldon as assistant coach. Nikki Carter (Hull Vixens) was tour manager. Paula Clark (York) was the touring team's physiotherapist. Great Britain lost the inaugural Test Match against Australia, but won both of the subsequent two Test Matches to claim a two-one series victory. The playing group consisted of captain Lisa McIntosh (Dudley Hill, squad number 13), vice-captain Brenda Dobek (Wakefield Panthers, squad number 6) and the following: 16. Jill Adams (Redhill), 17. Jane Banks (Wigan St Patricks), 1. Sharon Birkenhead (Redhill), 4. Karen Burrows (Redhill), 5. Wendy Charnley (Rochdale), 20. Julie Cronin (York), 22. Lucy Ferguson (Wakefield Panthers), 7. Mandy Green (Dudley Hill), 18. Nicki Harrison (Dudley Hill), 21. Joanne Hewson (Askam), 15. Lisa Hunter (Hull), 23. Allison Kitchin (Barrow), 3. Liz Kitchin (Barrow), 9. Michelle Land (Wakefield Panthers), 25. Sally Milburn (Askam), 8. Donna Parker (Hull Vixens), 2. Chantel Patricks (Dudley Hill), 24. Samantha Pearson (Dudley Hill), 26. Joanne Roberts (Wakefield Panthers), 11. Lucia Scott (Rochdale), 14. Vicky Studd (Dudley Hill), 19. Paula Tunnicliffe (Rochdale), 12. Sandra Wade (Barrow) and 1. Joanna Will (Wakefield Panthers).

1998 Tour of New Zealand

The Great Britain Lionesses toured New Zealand for the first time in 1998. The team was captained by Lisa McIntosh and coached by Jackie Sheldon.

2002 Tour of Australia

In 2002 Great Britain Lionesses toured Australia with sponsorship from Munchies. The playing group, captained by Lisa McIntosh (Bradford Thunderbirds), consisted of Samantha Bailey (Sheffield), Jane Banks (Bradford), Nicola Benstead (Hull Dockers), Teresa Bruce (Bradford Thunderbirds), Sue Cochrane (Wakefield Panthers), Brenda Dobek (Wakefield Panthers), Becky Jones (Hillside Hawks), Alexandra Knight (Keighley), Michelle Land (Wakefield Panthers), Paula McCourt (Wakefield Panthers), Sally Millburn (Barrow), Nikki O'Donnell (Hull Dockers), Natalie Parsons (Bradford Thunderbirds), Chantel Patrick (Bradford Thunderbirds), Nicholette Postlethwaite (Wigan Ladies), Donna Prime (Hull Dockers), Debbie Rice (Hull Dockers), Kirsty Robinson (Bradford Thunderbirds), Amy Robinson (Hull Dockers), Nicola Simpson (Milford Storm), Rebecca Stevens (Sheffield), Danni Titterington (Wakefield Panthers), Gemma Walsh (Wakefield Panthers) and Rachael Wilson (Wakefield Panthers). The team was coached by Jackie Sheldon, with John Mitchell (Bradford Thunderbirds) and Dylan Reynard (Milford) serving as assistant coaches. The touring party was managed by Roland Davis and Andrew McDonald (Keighley). Elaine Kirton (Whitehaven) was on tour as physiotherapist.

2010s

A 2015 Great Britain Lionesses tour of Australasia was approved by the

RLIF The International Rugby League (IRL) is the global governing body for the sport of rugby league football. Previously known as the ''Rugby League Imperial Board'', the '' International Rugby League Board'' and latterly the ''Rugby League Internat ...

, however did not occur.
During the decade, England women's teams visited France for away matches, travelled to Australia for the 2017 World Cup and in 2019 toured Papua New Guinea and participated in a four-team international nines competition.

Players

*Natalie Gilmour

References

External links

{{National sports teams of the United Kingdom Women's national rugby league teams

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 ...