Women’s Rugby League to be bigger and better in 2019
Women’s Rugby League is set for a blockbuster 2019 – with all three domestic leagues kicking off the season in style on April 7.
Wigan Warriors, who were Women’s Super League Champions in 2018, will launch their title defence at home to local rivals St Helens – streamed live on the Our League app and website, part of more coverage of the women’s game than ever before in 2019.
Newcomers to Super League, Wakefield Trinity, will make their debut with a tough trip to face the Challenge Cup holders Leeds Rhinos at Weetwood.
Elsewhere in Round One, York City Knights will face Castleford Tigers and Bradford Bulls welcome Featherstone Rovers to Odsal Stadium as part of a double header fixture which will also see Bradford Bulls men’s side take on Dewsbury Rams in the Betfred Championship.
In the Women’s Championship, newly created side Warrington Wolves will travel to face Barrow in their first competitive fixture and Huddersfield Giants, who enter the competition for the first time in 2019 after fielding an Under-19s side last year, travel to face Widnes Vikings.
Oulton Raidettes welcome Leigh Miners Rangers and an all-Yorkshire fixture between Hull FC and Stanningley will round off the opening weekend of the Championship competition.
Nine teams will take part in the 2019 Women’s League 1 – Cutsyke, East Leeds, Halifax, Hull KR, Keighley Albion, Rochdale Hornets, West Leeds Eagles Ladies, Whitley Bay Barbarians and Wigan St Patricks.
In both Women’s Super League and Championship, each team will play each other home and away over 14 rounds of the regular season. In League 1, as nine clubs are involved in the competition, clubs will have a number of bye weeks during the season.
In all three leagues the season will begin on April 7 and end on September 29. The top four teams in Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship will then enter into semi-final play-offs, with first place playing fourth and second playing third, before the Women’s Super League Grand Final and Championship Grand Final both take place on Sunday, October 13 at Emerald Headingley Stadium.
Women’s League 1 will follow the same format for the closing stages of the season with a final venue to be announced at a later date.
The Women’s Challenge Cup, which will take place alongside the domestic league competitions, is expected to be bigger and better in 2019 as more teams than ever before enter.
The Women’s Final will take place as part of a triple header event alongside the Coral Challenge Cup men’s semi-finals at the University of Bolton Stadium on Saturday, July 27.
Round One, which takes place on Sunday, May 5 will feature sixteen teams – eight teams from the Women’s Championship and eight teams who progress through the preliminary qualifying round.
All eight Women’s Super League teams will then enter in Round Two which takes place on Sunday, May 26. The quarter-finals will be played on Sunday, June 6 and semi-finals on Sunday, July 7.
Women’s Rugby League fixtures in full: