Lionesses v Students (Photo: Ainsley Bennett)

The England Lionesses sealed the 2016 Women’s Associations Cup with a hard-earned 36-14 win over England Students at Featherstone Rovers’ BigFellas Stadium on Sunday.

The Students needed a 46-point win to steal the trophy from the Lionesses, but that result never looked likely as the eventual champions led 22-0 at the break.

Sarah Harrison’s two-try haul set them on their way, while substitute Rhiannon Marshall ended the afternoon with a try and a goal to her name, as Kayleigh Bulman, Amy Hardcastle, Lois Forsell and Viki Pinks all notched four-pointers.

GB Teachers v GB Armed Forces (Photo: Ainsley Bennett)

In the afternoon’s other game, GB Teachers avoided finishing bottom of the Women’s Associations Cup table by overcoming GB Armed Forces 32-14.

A win by 23 points or more would have seen the Forces move up to third in the table, but they were 12-4 down at half time.

Jade Newman notched a hat trick on the losing side with the Teachers taking the spoils as Meganne Summers, Faye Gaskill, who kicked six goals, Charlene Heneghan, Kath Organ and Chantelle Crowl (pictured) all bagged tries to round off a comfortable afternoon for the Teachers, who ended the campaign in second place.

Report courtesy of the RFL 

England University & Colleges Photo: Ainsley Bennett

The England side enjoyed an almost perfect start as Kelsey Gentles got over on two minutes, but GB’s Jade Newman quickly made it 4-4, before Sophie Gale added the goal.

The Armed Forces then extended their lead on the stroke of half time, Newman notching her second try of the game, Gale converting, to hand their team a 12-4 interval lead.

A fast start to the second period saw the Great Britain side stretch their lead out to 12 points after Newman completed her hat trick.

GB Armed Forces Photo: Ainsley Bennett

With just over half an hour to play, the University and College representatives were staring at defeat, but they launched a stirring fightback to claim the spoils.

A minute after Newman’s score, Chloe Richardson responded with a four-pointer of her own to make it 8-16, before the 51st minute saw the England side close to within two points thanks to Tara Stanley, who improved her own score to make it 14-16.

Stanley then hammered over a penalty goal to level the tie, before late drama followed with the full back kicking a drop goal to edge her side one point ahead on 73 minutes.

Sinead Peach then added extra gloss to the scoreline with a late try to make it 21-16.

Meanwhile in the other tie, England Lionesses moved one step closer to Associations Cup success with a comfortable 38-10 win over GB Teachers last week.

GB Teachers Photo: Ainsley Bennett

Sarah Dunn opened the scoring, before Natalie Harrowell’s try, plus a Katie Cooper-Birkenhead goal made it 10-0.

Sarah Harrison then notched a quickfire brace either side of the half hour mark, with Cooper-Birkenhead adding one more goal to leave the Lionesses 20-0 up at the break.

Two more converted tries followed, Gemma Walsh and Kayleigh Bullman going over, with Cooper-Birkenhead taking her tally to four goals.

That put the England side 32-0 up with half an hour to play, but the Teachers mustered a response within two minutes as Sammy Simpson claimed her side’s first try.

Though Cooper-Birkenhead converted Jenny Welsby’s 65th-minute try, Shona Hoyle claimed the final four-pointer of the match to ensure late cheer for the losing side.

Lead photo features the England Lionesses.

Report courtesy of the RFL.

GB Teachers v England students (Photo: Ainsley Bennett)

Great Britain Teachers picked up a steely 16-10 win over England Students as the 2016 Women’s Associations Cup got underway this weekend.

Amy Gilbert opened the scoring for the University and Colleges side on five minutes, Tara Stanley adding the goal, but Shona Hoyle struck back for the Teachers to make it 6-4 with 22 minutes played.

Just before half time, the Teachers hit the front as centre Stacey White got over, with Faye Gaskell converting to put her side 10-6 up at the break.

A hard-fought second period brought up no further change to the scoreboard, until Matilda Butler notched a four-pointer for the Students on 69 minutes to level the scores but, in dramatic fashion, Charlene Heneghan ran clear to strike a 74th-minute winner, with Gaskell adding the two to round off the scoring.

Lionesses v GB Armed Forces (photo: Ainsley Bennett)

In the second game of the day, Sarah Dunn scored a 21-minute hat-trick as an impressive England Lionesses side romped to a stunning 62-0 win over the Great Britain Armed Forces.

Dunn set the tone with a try on two minutes, Jodie Cunningham converting.

She went on to complete her hat-trick either side of a Katie Coops try as England’s National Team led 28-0 after just 21 minutes.

The onslaught continued before the break with three more tries going the way of the Lionesses; Dawn Taylor, Kayleigh Bulman and Regan Walker all going over as England took a 38-0 lead into half time.

Lionesses v GB Armed Forces (photo: Ainsley Bennett)

The break didn’t halt their momentum as Katie Hepworth strode over within a minute of the restart, as Amy Hardcastle’s try helped the dominant Lionesses to the half century.

The GB Armed Forces did restore some pride in the final quarter, but the damage was already done as four-pointers from Danielle Bound and Rhianon Marshall added extra gloss to the scoreline, as Coops finished the game with six goals to her name.

Final scores:
England Universities 10-16 GB Teachers

GB Armed Forces 0-62 England Lionesses

Report courtesy of the RFL

The results are:

England Universities 10-16 GB Teachers

GB Armed Forces 0-62 England Lionesses

Match reports here.

The fixtures are:

13.00 – England Universities v GB Teachers

15.00 – GB Armed Forces v England Lionesses

The price of admission is just £3 with concessions at £1.

The ground is: Stanningley SARLC, Arthur Miller Stadium, Coal Hill Drive, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS13 1PA