Leeds Rhinos Women

Leeds Rhinos Women

Club information
Full name	Leeds Rhinos Women Rugby League Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Rhinos
Short name	Leeds
Colours	Blue and Amber
Founded	2017;8 years ago (2017)
Website	therhinos.co.uk
Current details
Ground(s)	Headingley Stadium, Leeds (19,700) University of Leeds Sports Park, Leeds
Coach	Lois Forsell
Captain	Hanna Butcher
Competition	Women's Super League
2023	3rd
Current season
Records
Women's Super League	2 (2019, 2022)
Women's Challenge Cups	2 (2018, 2019)
League Leaders Shield	1 (2018)

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 2023 they became the first semi-professional women's rugby league team in the UK. ^[1]

History

The team was formed in September 2017 with the aid of the Leeds Rhinos Foundation. ^[2] In December 2017 Rhino's forward, Adam Cuthbertson was appointed coach and Lois Forsell was named as captain in March 2018. ^{[3] [4]}

In the team's first season, they won the Women's Challenge Cup beating Castleford Tigers 20–14 in the final, at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, on 4 August 2018. ^[5]

They successfully retained their title, after beating Castleford Tigers 16–10 in the final, at the University of Bolton Stadium, on 28 July 2019; in a repeat of the 2018 final. ^[6] In October they beat Castleford again 20–12 to win the Grand Final. ^[7]

Lois Forsell missed the 2019 season and was succeeded as captain by Courtney Winfield-Hill. ^[8] Forsell succeeded Cuthbertson as coach in February 2020. ^[9]

Winfield-Hill retired at the end of the 2022 season and was succeeded as captain by Hanna Butcher. ^[10]

Seasons

Season	League									Play-offs	Challenge Cup
	Division	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	Pos
2018	Super League	12	10	0	2	438	139	20	1st	Lost in Grand Final	W
2019	Super League	14	10	1	3	410	151	21	3rd	Won in Grand Final	W
2020	Super League	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021	Super League	11	10	0	1	434	82	22	2nd	Lost in Grand Final	SF
2022	Super League	8	5	0	3	320	116	10	3rd	Won in Grand Final	RU
2023	Super League	10	6	1	3	396	136	13	3rd	Lost in Grand Final	RU
2024	Super League	14	11	0	3	528	122	22	2nd	Lost in semi-final	RU
2025	Super League	TBD									SF

2025 squad

Leeds Rhinos Women Squad

First team squad								Coaching staff
1 Ruby Enright – FB 2 Ebony Stead – WG 3 Caitlin Beevers (c) – CE 4 Evie Cousins – FB 5 Sophie Nuttall – WG, CE 6 Mel Howard – SO 7 Ruby Walker – SH 8 Bella Sykes – PR, LF 9 Keara Bennett – HK 10 Izzy Northrop – PR 11 Shannon Brown – PR, LF 12 Lucy Murray – SR		13 Bethan Dainton – SR, LF 14 Ruby Bruce – HK 15 Ella Donnelly – SR 16 Kaiya Glynn – PR 17 Jenna Greening – SH 18 Olivia Whitehead – FB, WG 19 Grace Field – PR 20 Elle Frain – SR 21 Grace Short – SR 22 Connie Boyd – CE 23 Frankie Blakey – SH		24 Tally Bryer – SH 25 Lacey Owen=SR 26 Lily Thompson – LF 27 Jessica Sharp – PR				Head coach Lois Forsell Legend: (c) Captain(s) (vc) Vice-captain(s) (gk) = Goal kicker Updated: 21 August 2025 Source(s):

Honours

League

• Super League

Winners (2): 2019, 2022

Runners-up (1): 2018

League Leaders' Shield

Winners (1): 2018

Runners-up (1): 2021

Cups

• Challenge Cup

Winners (2): 2018, ^[11] 2019 ^[12]

Runners-up (3): 2022, ^[13] 2023, ^[14] 2024 ^[15]

• Women's Nines

Winners (1): 2023 ^[16]

Runners-up (1): 2022, ^[17] 2024 ^[18]

References

1. "Leeds Rhinos to make history in 2023 by paying women's players bonuses and meritocratic payments for success". Sky Sports. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
2. "Leeds Rhinos launch women's rugby league team". Yorkshire Evening Post . 21 September 2018. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
3. "Super League winner Adam Cuthbertson to coach York City Knights Ladies' rivals Leeds Rhinos Women". The Press . 4 December 2017. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
4. "Lois Forsell named as first ever captain of Leeds Rhinos Women's team". Yorkshire Evening Post. 8 March 2018. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
5. "Rhinos fightback for the Cup". Rugby Leaguer & League Express . No. 3, 133. 6 August 2018. p. 14.
6. "Women's Challenge Cup final: Castleford Tigers 10-16 Leeds Rhinos". BBC Sport. 27 July 2019.
7. Heppenstall, Ross (11 October 2019). "Women's Super League Grand Final: Fran Goldthorp inspires Leeds Rhinos to victory against Castleford Tigers". Daily Telegraph . Retrieved 12 November 2019.
8. "From the Big Bash to the Super League: Courtney Hill's incredible journey". The Guardian . 6 April 2019. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
9. "New Leeds Rhinos women's team coach Lois Forsell welcomes "exciting" challenge". Yorkshire Evening Post . 12 February 2020. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
10. "'We're always ambitious': new Rhinos captain Butcher keen for more Women's Super League success". Yorkshire Evening Post. 28 March 2023. Retrieved 11 May 2023.
11. "Women's Challenge Cup: Leeds Rhinos women beat Castleford Tigers 20-14 to lift trophy". BBC Sport. 4 August 2018. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
12. "Women's Challenge Cup final: Castleford Tigers 10-16 Leeds Rhinos". BBC Sport. 27 July 2019. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
13. "St Helens retain Women's Challenge Cup in front of record UK crowd". Rugby-League.com. 7 May 2022. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
14. Bower, Aaron (12 August 2023). "Hoyle makes sure Saints fight off Leeds in Women's Challenge Cup final". The Observer. ISSN   0029-7712 . Retrieved 21 November 2023.
15. "Saints beat Leeds to retain Women's Challenge Cup". BBC Sport. 8 June 2024. Retrieved 8 June 2024.
16. "Leeds Rhinos lift first Women's Rugby League trophy of 2023". Rugby-League.com. 24 June 2023. Retrieved 24 June 2023.
17. Pattison, Cam (24 July 2022). "Leeds Rhinos and St Helens come up short as York City Knights win Women's Nines competition". Serious About Rugby League. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
18. "Wigan Warriors lift Women's Rugby League Nines trophy". Rugby-league.com. 29 July 2024. Retrieved 29 July 2024.