2023 RFL Women's Super League

2023 RFL Women's Super League
Duration	10 rounds + playoffs
Teams	12
Matches played	60
Points scored	2,419
Champions	York Valkyrie
League Leaders Shield	York Valkyrie
Biggest home win	St Helens 66–0 Huddersfield Giants (2 July 2023)
Biggest away win	Warrington Wolves 0–88 Leeds Rhinos (2 July 2023)
Woman of Steel	Sinead Peach
Promotion and relegation
Promoted from Group 2	Featherstone Rovers Barrow Raiders
← 2022 2024 →

York Valkyrie celebrated their successful 2023 Super League campaign with a trophy parade on the River Ouse in York

The 2023 RFL Women's Super League (also known as the Betfred Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons) was the seventh season of the Women's Super League, for female players in clubs affiliated to the Rugby Football League (RFL).

Leeds Rhinos were the defending champions having defeated York City Knights in the 2022 Grand Final. Since then both teams had announced that they would become semi-professional for the 2023 season and York had been rebranded as York Valkyrie. On 9 April, they faced each other at Headingley in the opening match of the 2023 season. York went unbeaten through the regular season to retain the League Leaders' Shield and defeated Leeds 16–6 in the Grand Final on 23 September.

In a change from the 2022 season the 12 teams were split into two groups of six. In Group 1 Huddersfield, Leeds, St Helens, Wigan and York were joined by Warrington who had won the 2022 promotion final. Group 2 comprised Barrow, Bradford, Castleford, Featherstone, Salford and Leigh Leopards who replaced Leigh Miners Rangers.

This was the last season of the two-group Super League before a restructuring of the league for 2024. The six teams in Group 1 were joined in the 2024 Super League by the team finishing first in Group 2 and the winners of the Group 2 play-offs. Featherstone Rovers won the automatic promotion place while Barrow Raiders won the play-offs for the second promotion place.

Pre-season

On 14 October 2022, York City Knights became York RLFC and their women's team was rebranded as York Valkyrie. ^[2] A week later it was announced Leigh Leopards would take the place of Leigh Miners Rangers in the Super League following a merger agreement between the clubs. ^{[3] [4]} On 30 October, Leeds Rhinos announced that their women's team would become semi-professional for the 2023 season. This was followed by York Valkyrie on 4 January 2023, marking the first and second semi-professional women's rugby league clubs in the United Kingdom. ^{[5] [6]}

Teams

Group 1 teams

York

Wigan

St Helens

Warrington

Huddersfield

Leeds

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Locations of Group 1 Teams in Northern England

• Huddersfield Giants
• Leeds Rhinos
• St Helens
• Warrington Wolves
• Wigan Warriors
• York Valkyrie

Group 2 teams

Barrow

Leigh

Salford

Bradford

Castleford

Featherstone

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Locations of Group 2 Teams in Northern England

• Barrow Raiders
• Bradford Bulls
• Castleford Tigers
• Featherstone Rovers
• Leigh Leopards
• Salford Red Devils

Fixtures and results

Main article: 2023 RFL Women's Super League results

Regular season

The season began on 9 April, with current champions Leeds taking on York at Headingley whilst the 10 remaining teams started their season on 16 April. ^[7] The Leeds-York match was a repeat of the 2022 Grand Final and attracted a new attendance record of 5,308 for a Women's Super League fixture. ^[8] York remained unbeaten to become the first team to win the League Leaders' Shield in successive seasons of the Women's Super League. They were joined in the Group 1 play-offs by Leeds, St Helens and Wigan. Due to the restructuring of the league for 2024 Warrington and Huddersfield were not at risk of relegation. The eight-team 2024 Super League includes all six teams from Group 1 who will be joined by the team finishing first in Group 2 and the winners of the Group 2 play-offs contested by the teams finishing second to fifth in the group. The top spot in Group 2 was not decided until the final day of the regular season. Leigh were ahead of Barrow and Featherstone by one point, but lost to Barrow in their final game. Featherstone, who had started the day in third, also won and overtook Barrow on points difference to claim the automatic promotion place. ^{[9] [10]}

Group 1 table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	York Valkyrie	10	9	1	0	376	74	+302	19	Advance to semi-finals
2	St Helens	10	7	0	3	362	116	+246	14
3	Leeds Rhinos	10	6	1	3	396	136	+260	13
4	Wigan Warriors	10	3	1	6	116	252	−136	7
5	Warrington Wolves	10	2	1	7	128	450	−322	5
6	Huddersfield Giants	10	1	0	9	102	452	−350	2

Source:

Group 2 table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	Pts	Qualification
1	Featherstone Rovers (P)	10	8	0	2	356	103	+253	16	Qualification for 2024 Super League
2	Barrow Raiders (P)	10	8	0	2	336	88	+248	16	Advance to semi-finals
3	Leigh Leopards	10	7	1	2	271	108	+163	15
4	Salford Red Devils	10	4	0	6	174	248	−74	8
5	Bradford Bulls	10	2	1	7	124	350	−226	5
6	Castleford Tigers (R)	10	0	0	10	44	408	−364	0	Relegated to 2024 Championship

Source:

Playoffs

In the play-offs, semi-final wins for Barrow (over Bradford) and Leigh (over Salford) meant they faced each other again in the Group 2 promotion final with Barrow winning 14–8 to earn their place in the Super League for 2024. The other three teams, as well as Castleford Tigers who finished bottom of the group, will play in the Regional League Roses (part of the new second tier) in 2024. In Group 1 York won 22–6 over Wigan and Leeds defeated St Helens in golden point extra time to set up a repeat of the 2022 Grand Final. York were crowned champions following a 16–6 win against Leeds in front of a Grand Final record crowd of 4,547 at York Community Stadium. ^{[9] [10] [11] [12]}

Group 1

	Semi-finals					Grand Final
	1	York Valkyrie	22
	4	Wigan Warriors	6
						1	York Valkyrie	16
						3	Leeds Rhinos	6
	2	St Helens	16
	3	Leeds Rhinos	20

Group 1: Semi-finals

23 September 2023 15:30 BST (UTC+01)

York Valkyrie	22–6	Wigan Warriors
Tries:Whitehead 22, Gale 24′, Stanley 36′, Owen 74′ Goals: Stanley (3/5) 25', 37', 75'	Report	Tries: Banks 3' Goals: Salihi (1/1) 4'

York Community Stadium

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23 September 2023 18:00 BST (UTC+01)

St Helens	16–20 (a.e.t.)	Leeds Rhinos
Tries: Jones 31', Rudge 51' Goals: Taylor (4/4) 6', 32', 37', 52'	Report	Tries:Robinson 40', 83, Beevers 55', Murray 58' Goals: Enright (2/4) 15, 55'

Totally Wicked Stadium Attendance: 1,047

Grand final

Final

8 October 2023 15:00 BST (UTC+01:00)

York Valkyrie	16–6	Leeds Rhinos
Tries: Renouf 15', Stanley 40', Owen 62' Goals: Stanley (2/4) 59' (pen), 63'		Tries: Casey 80' Goals: Enright 45' (pen)

York Community Stadium Attendance: 4,547 Referee: Liam Rush

Team details

York Valkyrie		Position	Leeds Rhinos
Name	Number		Number	Name
Tara-Jane Stanley	1	FB	31	Ruby Enright
Emma Kershaw	4	WG	5	Sophie Nuttall
Tamzin Renouf	3	CE	11	Amy Hardcastle
Carrie Roberts	30	CE	3	Caitlin Beevers
Georgie Hetherington	19	WG	2	Sophie Robinson
Sade Rihari	6	SO	26	Caitlin Casey
Liv Gale	7	SH	4	Hanna Butcher
Elisa Akpa	29	PR	18	Izzy Northrop
Sinead Peach	9	HK	9	Keara Bennett
Aimee Staveley	14	PF	8	Zoe Hornby
Savanah Andrade	12	SR	28	Lucy Murray
Lacey Owen	11	SR	24	Jenna Greening
Liv Wood	8	LF	12	Bethan Dainton
Jas Bell	10	IN	15	Jasmine Cudjoe
Rhiannon Marshall	15	IN	16	Kaya Glynn
Ashleigh Hyde	16	IN	22	Bethany Lockwood
Daisy Sanderson	23	IN	32	Isabella Sykes
Jess Sharp	27	CS	20	Tara Moxon
Lindsay Anfield		Coach		Lois Forsell

Group 2

	Semi-finals					Final
	2	Barrow Raiders	62
	5	Bradford Bulls	0
						2	Barrow Raiders	14
						3	Leigh Leopards	8
	3	Leigh Leopards	28
	4	Salford Red Devils	10

Group 2: Semi-finals

Semi-final 1

24 September 2023 12:00 BST (UTC+01:00)

Barrow Raiders	62–0	Bradford Bulls

Craven Park Referee: Sam Houghton

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Semi-final 2

24 September 2023 15:00 BST (UTC+01:00)

Leigh Leopards	28–0	Salford Red Devils

Leigh Sports Village

Promotion final

8 October 2023 12:00 BST (UTC+01:00)

Barrow Raiders	14–8	Leigh Leopards

York Community Stadium Referee: E Burrow

End of season awards

The End of season awards took place on 10 October 2023, alongside the men's Super League, Championship, and League 1 awards.

The winners were: ^[13]

Woman of Steel: Sinead Peach (York Valkyrie)

Young player of the year: Caitlin Casey (Leeds Rhinos)

Coach of the year: Lindsay Anfield (York Valkyrie)

References

1. "York Valkyrie show off silverware in River Ouse boat parade". The Press. 20 October 2023. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
2. "#RiseUp". York RLFC. 14 October 2022. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
3. "Salford Red Devils and Leigh Leopards to join BWSL in 2023". Rugby-League.com. 22 October 2022. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
4. "Leigh Leopards merge with women's team Leigh Miners Rangers for next season". BBC Sport. 24 October 2022. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
5. "Paying players another step in the right direction for women's rugby league". LoveRugbyLeague. 5 January 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
6. "York Valkyrie players to be paid from 2023 season, chairman reveals". The Press . 4 January 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
7. "Women's Super League fixtures confirmed". BBC Sport. 9 January 2023.
8. "Women's Super League back with a bang in front of record attendance". LoveRugbyLeague. 9 April 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
9. "Betfred Women's Super League play-off and promotion hopes confirmed this weekend". www.rugby-league.com. RFL. 8 September 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2023.
10. "Betfred Women's Super League Update – September 10". Rugby-League.com. 10 September 2023. Retrieved 25 September 2023.
11. "Women's Super League Grand Final: York Valkyrie 16-2 Leeds Rhinos - Lindsay Anfield ends wait for glory". BBC Sport. 8 October 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
12. "York Valkyrie win first Betfred Women's Super League title in front of record Grand Final crowd". Rugby-League.com. 8 October 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2024.
13. "Bevan French: Wigan Warriors stand-off wins 2023 Steve Prescott MBE Man of Steel award". BBC Sport. 10 October 2023. Retrieved 29 December 2023.