Warrington Wolves Women

The Warrington Wolves Women are the women's rugby league team of Warrington Wolves in Warrington, Cheshire, England. They compete in the RFL Women's Super League, playing their home games at Victoria Park and some games at the Halliwell Jones Stadium; the home of the men's team.

History

In November 2018, it was announced that Warrington Wolves were to launch a women's team and that team trials had been organised to take place in December. The club had previously had a women's team that played in the Women's Rugby League Conference and the 2012 Women's Challenge Cup. It also had girls' teams for several age groups; Emily Rudge had been with the U16s when selected for the England squad for the 2008 World Cup. The community coach at Warrington, Lee Westwood, said the women's team would "provide a pathway for all girls from 11 years old to open age". For their first season the team entered the Championship with the aim of joining the Super League in 2020. Despite losing their first match of the season 28–20 at Barrow, Warrington defeated Widnes 40–10 the following week and went on to finish top of the Championship. A 36–4 victory over Huddersfield Giants in the play-off semi-final saw Warrington progress to the final on 12 October in which they defeated Barrow 40–4 to take the Championship title. Their top four finish in the league meant that they, along with Huddersfield, were accepted into the Super League for the following season. In the Challenge Cup Warrington reached the quarter-finals before being knocked out by eventual winners Leeds Rhinos.

In 2020, Warrington were to face Barrow again, this time in the second round of the Challenge Cup. However, a week before the match the RFL suspended all competitions. The cancellation of the women's 2020 season was announced in August. This included the Super League in which Warrington had been due to make their debut on 29 March against Wigan Warriors. The following season, on 18 April 2021, Warrington played their first Super League game and lost 52–8 to Wigan. Their first win, 44–8 over Huddersfield, came in Round 5 of the season. After finishing the regular season in 8th place, Warrington took part in the Shield competition, but lost 30–26 to Huddersfield after golden point extra time in the semi-final Warrington reached the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup but lost 6–26 to Castleford Tigers.

In 2022, there was a new format for the Challenge Cup that introduced a group stage from which Warrington advanced to the quarter-finals where they were defeated by Leeds. The structure of the Super League season also changed and Warrington were placed in Group 2 of the competition. Warrington finished the regular season top of their group by winning all 12 matches including a 102–0 victory over Wakefield Trinity. Warrington then claimed the Shield by winning 72–0 over Bradford Bulls in the semi-final and 34–6 over Featherstone Rovers in the final to earn promotion to Group 1 for the 2023 Super League season. In 2023, Warrington reached the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup for a four successive campaign. Lee Westwood stepped down from his role as head coach at the end of the 2023 season and was succeeded by former player and team captain Armani Sharrock.

Seasons

Honours

*Super League
**Super League Shield: 2022
*Championship
**League Leaders: 2019
**Grand Final Winners: 2019

References

External links

*

{{RFL Women's Super League

RFL Women's Super League teams
Women's rugby league teams in England