On Tuesday 23rd September Leeds welcomed visitors from the Gold Coast. The first ever Girls Rugby League School Tour from Gold Coasts Merrimac State High School. The touring party arrived in Leeds on Monday afternoon after visiting the capital. Merrimac State’s Coach David Maccoll had got in touch with Women & Girls Development Officer Lois Forsell during the Leeds Summer holidays regards having a fixture in Leeds whilst they were visiting.
The Gold Coast visitors are an experienced team and have been unbeaten for four years back home in Oz, therefore the decision was made to put a team together of the girls in Year 11 & 12 who had played in the previous academic year ‘Leeds Year 9 & 10 Girls Inter League’ from five schools. The girls who had played in the league last year and met the age criteria attended trials and from that a squad of 18 were selected to take on the Australian outfit.
The Selected Squad:
1. Keavy Smith
2. Ellie Hickinson
3. Emily Riley
4. Ruby Hudson
5. Shanelle Mannion
6. Chloe Cass
7. Georgia Cutts
8. Abby Sefton
9. Shauna Calvert
10. Christina
11.Nyasha Maponga
12. Lauren Wheatley
13. Katie Lyons
14. Tara Brier
15.Courtney Cairns
16. Alisha Henry
17. Becky Brook
18. Keesha Ennis
The game kicked off following the year 9 Champion Schools at East Leeds ARLFC where seven Leeds schools competed to qualify into the Regional stages of the competition. The qualifiers after a competitive tournament were Roundhay School and David Young Community Academy. The Champion Schools finished and the Leeds Inter League Select U17’s took to the field to take on Merrimac State High School whom were in unbeaten form.
The game was tight for the first fifteen minutes with excellent defence from both sides, however Merrimac State High School used their skills with the ball and pace to get round Leeds defence. This was the first of three tries within the first half which were cleverly worked by the Australians and came on the back of poor set execution from the Leeds side who had never really got their 5th and last kicks away.
After half time the Leeds Inter League Select were a lot more composed getting their kicks away and getting some good field position and came close to scoring however struggled to break down the Aussie defence. The score ended Leeds Girls Inter League Select 0- 24 Merrimac State High School.
Lois Forsell quoted ‘ It has been great for the girls to come up against such a strong outfit and to be given an opportunity to be rewarded for their involvement in schools rugby league. You could really see the difference in some of the girls and how much they improved not only on the field but off the field.’
David Maccoll quoted ‘ It has been great in Leeds we loved our tour of the Headingley Carnegie Stadium and the hospitality from Corpus Christi Catholic College where we had lunch and played some sport. The Leeds side gave us a good game and would fair well in our competitions on the Gold Coast’.