Castleford out to tame Rhinos at last in ‘the one that really matters’
Castleford Tigers women’s coach Lindsay Anfield has challenged her players finally to deliver on the big stage as she prepares to cross swords with Leeds Rhinos counterpart Adam Cuthbertson, who will temporarily replace her in the England set-up this autumn.
The teams meet in the Betfred Women’s Super League Grand Final tonight with Castleford trying to avenge successive Challenge Cup final defeats by Leeds.
Castleford finished top of the eight-team competition to claim the League Leaders’ Shield but could now win their first major trophy in front of Sky’s cameras, at St Helens’ Totally Wicked Stadium.
The match could draw a crowd of more than 2,000, setting a record for a stand-alone women’s rugby league game in England, and will also be screened in Australia and France. Anfield said: “Last year, we played Leeds in the Challenge Cup final and Super League play-off semi-final and got beat twice. Having lost to them again in this year’s Challenge Cup final, this is the fourth big game we’ve had. We’ve beaten them home and away this season, but this is the one that really matters.
“The majority of our girls played in the previous games, so if they haven’t learnt their lessons by now then I’m not sure they ever will.”
Anfield combines her unpaid role at Castleford with a full-time job as head of PE at De Lacy Academy. The explayer has served on the England coaching staff for two years, but her hopes of being an assistant for the nines tournament in Australia and tour of Papua New Guinea have been dashed.
She said: “It wasn’t feasible for me to get out of work for six weeks, so that’s disappointing.”
England head coach Craig Richards will instead be assisted by former Super League player Shaun Briscoe while Cuthbertson, Leeds’s Australian forward, will take Anfield’s place for the three-week trip to Papua New Guinea.
Meanwhile, newly-promoted men’s Super League club Toronto have held talks about signing crosscode player Sonny Bill Williams. The 34-year-old is currently representing New Zealand at the rugby union World Cup in Japan.