Young Robins Gain Valuable Experience At RFL Women's Nines Festival

Young Robins gain valuable experience at RFL Women's Nines Festival

The RFL Women’s Nines Festival was back in full force at West Park in Leeds, where sixteen teams fought for a place in the Championship, Shield and Plate Finals alongside four Hull KR juniors getting their first taste of senior rugby league.

The first two games that took place in the group stages against Women's Challenge Cup Winners, Wigan Warriors and Women's Super League side, Barrow Raiders were played in eighteen-minute games, two nine-minute halves. Whilst game three, the Plate Semi-Final against London Broncos, was played in a straight thirteen-minute game.

For these games, a try was worth four points, a try underneath the sticks was worth five points and a conversion was worth one point.

Hull KR Women lined up as such: Beth Rushmer. Jade Smalley, Jaz Herbison (Debut), Jessica Wilson-Ireland, Lucy Ashcroft, Lydia Conn (Debut), Macey Hurst, Madison Kendall (Captain), Megan Ayre (Debut), Rachel Robertson, Ruby Barnett (Debut) and Shannon Ostler

The first game against Women's Challenge Cup Winners Wigan Warriors took place at 10:45am on pitch two. Hull KR Women fought hard for the eighteen-minute game, but the Warriors showed their class and raced away with the win after opening the scoring early on in the first half.

Full-Time : Wigan Warriors 48 - 0 Hull KR

Hull KR Women then took part in the next group stage fixture against Super League club, Barrow Raiders on pitch one in front of a large audience and the game was live-streamed on YouTube.

In the first half of the game, our Women worked well to match the pace of the Raiders and keep up with their skill. In the second half, the unsung hero of the day, Jade Smalley scored the first try of the game for Hull KR just outside the sticks to give the Robins their first points of the day.
Smalley put the kick wide in an attempt to convert her own try, but our Women persevered and managed to keep Barrow Raiders to one score in the second half.

Full-Time : Barrow Raiders 20 - 4 Hull KR

During the time between the last group stage fixture and the semi-final, one of our women, Jaz Herbison, took part in a race across the pitch against other players from all the teams that were taking part in the Women's Nines Festival throughout the day.

The rest of the team and the great audience at West Park cheered all of those taking part in the race on as they began, and Herbison placed third overall. After she had raced, the full team took part in dancing along with the other teams on the sidelines of the pitch.

The last fixture of the day was the Plate Semi-Final against London Broncos, who our Women recently faced at home and were defeated by the visitors 12-54. This game was a straight thirteen-minute fixture on pitch two, in which our Women fought incredibly well to keep the score to a minimal two-score difference at full-time.

Hull KR Women dug deep to maintain a hard and brutal defensive pace to match London but it was the Broncos who edged the game with two scores.

Full-Time : London Broncos 10 - 0 Hull KR

Overall, the Women's Nines Festival was a great opportunity for Hull KR to bring their younger players from the Development Team to make their unofficial first team debuts and to play against Super League clubs. The full team showed an incredible amount of grit and determination all day in the face of adversity embraced the spirit of the Women's Nines Festival.