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York Valkyrie served notice they will not give up their Women’s Super League crown easily with an emphatic 32-10 win over second-placed Wigan Warriors at Blaydon Rugby Club.
Victory saw Valkyrie close the gap on table-topping St Helens to two points in the race for the League Leaders’ Shield, with Wigan a point ahead of York with three games left.
But the timing of the six-try success suggested the 2023 and 2024 Grand Final champions are coming to the boil nicely as they set their sights on another season finale on 5 October.
Leeds Rhinos, who need one more win to secure their own play-off semi-final spot, kept up their pursuit of the top three with a similarly dominant performance to beat Leigh Leopards 40-10 at Leigh Sports Village.
In the day’s other fixture Huddersfield Giants Women beat winless Warrington Wolves 54-4 at Laund Hill to keep alive their own wafer-thin hopes of making the play-offs.
Few could have predicted a one-sided affair up in Newcastle as York hosted a blockbuster clash which offered Wigan the opportunity to reclaim top spot from St Helens.
The visitors came into this contest unbeaten with nine wins and a draw in the bag during this campaign and having mauled York 40-6 in the reverse fixture back in May.
Yet a home win was never in doubt in a one-way first half as Sinead Peach went over on 10 minutes followed by Peace Lekuru, Rhiannon Marshall and Savannah Andrade to give York a 22-0 half-time advantage.
Eboni Partington made it 26-0 after the break before Wigan mounted a mini-fightback with tries from Eva Hunter and Anna Davies to drag it back to 26-10. But it was an effort which quickly petered out.
Emma Kershaw added a sixth try of the afternoon to put the cherry on the cake.
Rhinos put on a similarly powerful display against second-from-bottom Leigh Leopards. Tries from Tally Bryer, Lucy Murray, Ebony Stead and Ruby Bruce answered by a solitary effort from Mackenzie Taylor for the hosts saw the game pretty much done and dusted at 22-4 at the halfway mark.
Kate Howard added a converted try early in the second period to make it 22-10 but Mel Howard for Leeds, Murray again and Sophie Nuttall banged in three tries with added extras to seal a sixth win of the campaign for the Rhinos.
