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A file crowd for a ladies’s match within the UK had been at Headingley on Sunday to observe St Helens seal the treble with victory over Leeds Rhinos within the Grand Ultimate. “We’re solely going to get larger, higher, sooner and faster,” participant of the match Chantelle Crowl mentioned
By Marc Bazeley
Final Up to date: 12/10/21 6:02pm
St Helens rejoice their win over Leeds in Sunday’s Girls’s Tremendous League Grand Ultimate
It’s not uncommon for St Helens to be promoting a big quantity of duplicate shirts with the identify ‘Cunningham’ printed on the again of them.
However an indication of how instances are altering is that nowadays it’s not a lot in honour of Keiron, the enduring hooker thought to be one of many membership’s greats who has a statue outdoors Completely Depraved Stadium, however extra due to the impression his namesake and ladies’s workforce star Jodie is having.
This 12 months’s Girl of Metal has change into one of the crucial recognisable gamers within the Girls’s Tremendous League and on Sunday skippered Saints to treble glory as they defeated Leeds Rhinos 28-0 in the Grand Final.
Cunningham isn’t the one member of her workforce, or certainly the competitors as a complete, who’s changing into a family identify although and St Helens head coach Derek Hardman has seen how the profile of his workforce has risen with the rise in consideration being paid to ladies’s rugby league.
“Solely the previous few weeks, we have shirt gross sales on the membership with individuals like ‘Cunningham’ with the again – It is an excellent identify at our membership and now Jodie goes to take that on,” Hardman mentioned.
“We have had women messaging on social media asking for autographs, women have been requested for his or her boots immediately and there is this nice razzmatazz with individuals now and that is nice for the sport.
“We have written our personal historical past this 12 months and I do not assume we have been within the shadow of the boys. As one membership, we’re very glad and happy with what we do – and that begins from the highest down.”
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Jodie Cunningham picked it up from her personal half and flew by the Leeds defence to increase St Helens’ lead
It was one thing of a combined day for Cunningham on Sunday, who was sin-binned for the primary time in her profession after stopping the Rhinos taking a fast faucet restart early within the first half however returned to the sphere to attain a sensational strive which put her aspect 10-0 up at half-time.
Having already received the Problem Cup and League Leaders’ Defend, the precedence was on ensuring Saints secured a clear sweep of honours for the 12 months. But the England worldwide, who has a watch on subsequent 12 months’s postponed Rugby League World Cup too, was happy each groups had been in a position to showcase the competitors in a optimistic gentle.
“The win was the principle factor, however we needed to placed on a showcase for ladies’s rugby league,” Cunningham mentioned. “We labored so arduous, and we all know we have got top-quality rugby in us, and reside we had a lot nice help however again house we hope we made everybody proud.
“If that recreation is something to go by, there’s going to be a lot progress made on the worldwide stage.
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Highlights of the Girls’s Tremendous League Defend Ultimate as Huddersfield beat Featherstone 24-22 at Emerald Headingley
“The time we had off with Covid has been a blessing; as an England efficiency unit, we had a great deal of time on the sphere, a great deal of time within the fitness center and I believe you may see that within the athleticism of the women within the squad now.
“We’re wanting so sturdy and it is thrilling for subsequent 12 months and for the World Cup.”
Not solely was the Grand Ultimate as soon as once more broadcast reside on Sky Sports activities, however it attracted a file crowd for a ladies’s recreation within the UK of 4,235 to Headingley on a day which additionally featured Huddersfield Giants edging out Featherstone Rovers 24-22 to carry the Girls’s Tremendous League Defend within the curtain-raiser.
Chantelle Crowl, who was named participant of the match for her sterling work within the entrance row for Saints, revelled within the ambiance created by the supporters of each groups – even when she did wrestle to listen to the sort out rely from referee Aaron Moore at instances.
St Helens’ Chantelle Crowl celebrates along with her participant of the match award and the league trophy
“It was unreal,” Crowl mentioned. “It was the primary time I might been on a pitch and I can not hear the ref.
“The chants and the individuals behind us and even the Leeds supporters, everybody there was superb, and it gave us that increase to go on and put in a efficiency like that.
“We’re solely going to get larger, higher, sooner and faster, so be ready for subsequent 12 months.”
Lois Forsell, the Leeds head coach who performed the inaugural Girls’s Tremendous League season with Bradford Bulls in 2017 earlier than switching to the Rhinos, has seen simply how far the competitors has come from these early days.
Even with the season being cancelled final 12 months as a result of Covid-19 pandemic, the competitors has made speedy progress since its inception and the previous England worldwide hooker sees Sunday as one other step alongside the highway to much more development.
“Only for the ladies’s recreation, it is completely large and to have that many individuals right here watching is nice for the sport,” Forsell mentioned.
“Having the sport proven reside, hopefully for the individuals who tuned in to see what it was all could have modified their notion they usually’ll wish to be concerned in rugby league much more.”
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