2023 RFL Women's Super League
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).
| 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 |
|
The season began on 9 April, with current champions Leeds Rhinos taking on York Valkyrie at Headingley, whilst the 10 remaining teams started their season on 16 April.[1]
Group 1 comprised Huddersfield, Leeds, St Helens, Warrington, Wigan and York.
Group 2 comprised Barrow, Bradford, Castleford, Featherstone, Leigh Leopards and Salford.
On 30 October 2022, 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.[2][3]
The opening fixture of the season between Leeds and York attracted a new attendance record for the Women's Super League with 5,308 watching the game at Headingley.[4]
The 2023 season was the last season of the two-group Super League before a restructuring of the league for 2024. The six teams in Group 1 will be 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.
The Group 2 play-offs were played by the teams finishing second to fifth in the group. The play-off winners were promoted to the Super League for 2024.[5] 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.
Teams
Group 1
Group 2
Barrow Raiders
Bradford Bulls
Castleford Tigers
Featherstone Rovers
Leigh Leopards
Salford Red Devils
Fixtures and results
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:
Woman of Steel: Sinead Peach
Young player of the year: Caitlin Casey
Coach of the year: 
Lindsay Anfield (York Valkyrie)
Regular season tables
Group 1
| 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 |
Group 2
| 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 Regional League Roses |
Playoffs
| 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
| 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' |
| 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
Grand final
| 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 Valkyrie | Position | Leeds Rhinos | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tara-Jane Stanley | Fullback | 31 | Ruby Enright |
| 4 | Emma Kershaw | Wing | 5 | Sophie Nutall |
| 3 | Tamzin Renouf | Centre | 11 | Amy Hardcastle |
| 30 | Carrie Roberts | Centre | 3 | Caitlin Beevers |
| 19 | Georgie Hetherington | Wing | 2 | Sophie Robinson |
| 6 | Sade Rihari | Scrum-half | 26 | Caitlin Casey |
| 7 | Liv Gale | Stand-off | 4 | Hannah Butcher |
| 29 | Elisa Apka | Prop | 18 | Izzy Northrop |
| 9 | Sinead Peach | Hooker | 9 | Keara Bennett |
| 14 | Aimee Staveley | Prop | 8 | Zoe Hornby |
| 12 | Savannah Andrade | Second-row | 28 | Lucy Murray |
| 11 | Lacey Owen | Second-row | 24 | Jenna Greening |
| 8 | Liv Wood | Prop | 12 | Bethan Dainton |
| 10 | Jas Bell | Interchange | 15 | Jasmine Cudjoe |
| 15 | Rhiannon Marshall | 16 | Kaya Glynn | |
| 16 | Ashley Hyde | 22 | Bethany Lockwood | |
| 23 | Daisy Sanderson | 23 | Isabelle Hyde | |
| Lindsay Anfield | Head 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 | |||||||
Week 1: Semi-finals
| Leigh Leopards |
28–0 | Salford Red Devils |
|---|---|---|
Week 2: Promotion Final
References
- "Women's Super League fixtures confirmed". BBC Sport. 9 January 2023.
- "Paying players another step in the right direction for women's rugby league". LoveRugbyLeague. 5 January 2023. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
- "York Valkyrie players to be paid from 2023 season, chairman reveals". The Press. 4 January 2023. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
- "Women's Super League back with a bang in front of record attendance". LoveRugbyLeague. 9 April 2023. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
- "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.