Warrington Wolves Women book Grand Final spot and lift League Leaders Shield

Pictures Eddie Whitham

WARRINGTON Wolves Women booked a Grand Final Sport and lifted the League Leaders Shield as they demolished Bradford Bulls Women in a one-sided semi-final.

Georgia Sutherland ran in a total of seven tries during the romp at Victoria Park, with four in the first half along with tries from Lucy Eastwood, Emily Baggaley and Michelle Davis giving the Wire a commanding 40-0 advantage at the break.

Sutherland added a further three in the second-half with other tries from Emily Downs, Danielle Bound and Jessica Courtman sealing an emphatic win in front of a packed crowd.

The Wire will now face Featherstone Rovers Women in the Grand Final at the Totally Wicked Stadium in St Helens next Sunday for the chance to be promoted to Group 1 of the Betfred Women’s Super League.

Warrington headed into the play-offs as hot favourites to be promoted to the top tier of the competition following 12 wins from 12 in 2022 and having amassed 744 points in the process.

Lee Westwood’s side faced the fourth-placed Bulls in the semi-final who had failed to register a point in the two previous meetings between the sides this season.

Following a minute’s silence in memory of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and a rendition of ‘God Save the King’, the Wire came out the traps firing and were ahead inside two minutes as Sutherland finished off a well worked move down the left side.

Five minutes later and the Wire doubled their early advantage as Eastwood capitalised on a Bradford knock on from the scrum to scoop up the ball and race 30 metres to score.
Baggaley soon added the home side’s third, crashing over down the right flank. A superb looping pass to the wing from Bound on 22 minutes then sent Sutherland over for her second.
Moments later skipper Davis exploited a gap in the Bulls line down the left side to race over from 40 metres out.
From the restart Sutherland then completed her hat-trick, racing away down the left wing. It was almost a carbon copy on the stroke of half-time as the winger grabbed her fourth to take the scoreline to 40-0 at the interval.

Warrington maintained their control of the contest at the start of the second half and added an eighth try on 45 minutes when Downs crashed over from short range.
A sensational solo try then followed on 57 minutes as Bound scooped the ball from dummy half 40 metres out to then weave round the Bulls defenders to score.
Sutherland then added her fifth of the afternoon, racing past Bailey Alexander to score in the left corner. The winger wasn’t done there either, crossing for a sixth try out wide with 10 minutes left on the clock.
On 75 minutes Eastwood’s sensational break and offload sent Courtman over for the Wolves.
There was just time remaining for Sutherland to add a seventh, brushing off the Bulls defenders with a rampaging run down the left wing. The feat takes her to a staggering 42 tries for the campaign – an average of over three a game.

Picture Eddie Whitham

Warrington 72
Tries: Sutherland (2, 22, 28, 39, 61, 70, 79), Eastwood (7), Baggaley (11), Davis (26), Downs (45), Bound (57), Courtman (75)
Goals: Davis 10/13

Team: Michelle Davis, Samantha Simpson, Emily Baggaley, Jessica Courtman, Georgia Sutherland, Lucy Eastwood, Charlie Magraw, Armani Sharrock, Danielle Bound, Amy Johnson, Kacy Haley, Katie-May Williams, Amy Daniels
Subs: Grace Ramsden, Georgia Westwood, Emily Downs, Claire Mullaney

Bradford 0
Team: Bethany Macmillan, Bailey Alexander, Katie Whelan, Hannah Donald, Lily Williams, Lucy Butterfield, Millie Bell, Alice Fisher, Evie Kilburn, Sarah Garland, Ellena Powell, Jessica Harrap, Amy Boardman
Subs: Abigail Pinder, Jenny Young, Claire Collins, Hannah McPherson