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Though born in Queensland, former Lady of Metal Courtney Winfield-Hill may very well be making her England bow later this yr; the brand new Betfred Girls’s Tremendous League season kicks off this Sunday

The sporting rivalry between England and Australia is one which runs deep, notably on the subject of cricket and rugby league.

It simply so occurs they’re the 2 disciplines former Girls’s Massive Bash League opening bowler and present Betfred Girls’s Tremendous League scrum-half Courtney Winfield-Hill has excelled in as properly.

However the Queensland-born Leeds Rhinos star is all set to cross the divide after her current call-up to the England Girls’s efficiency squad and is happy to suppose she may very well be pulling on the white shirt as an alternative of the inexperienced and gold of her homeland later this yr.

“It sounds actually cool,” Winfield-Hill mentioned of the prospect of having the ability to name herself an England worldwide. “I feel with the double-barrelled, posh final title it is very English, is not it?

“Greater than sounding actually cool, it’s actually cool. I had my first weekend with the women and the workers a few weeks again and it was actually terrific to interact with them.

“Most of them, week in week out, it is shake fingers, thanks for the sport and the way are you going, and that is about it, so it was terrific to determine some extra significant connections and put on the identical colors and badge on the coaching shirts.

“It is a terrific studying house for me this yr and I am unable to wait to get caught in.”

Winfield-Hill qualifies for England on residency teams, having moved to Yorkshire in 2018 to be together with her now-wife Lauren Winfield-Hill, the England worldwide cricketer, and joined the Rhinos the place she shortly established herself as one of many stand-out gamers within the Girls’s Tremendous League.

The 2019 Lady of Metal has not utterly severed her connections with Australia, though she is anticipating going via the method of turning into a fully-fledged British citizen.

“I’ve obtained a number of houses,” Winfield-Hill mentioned. “You by no means know what’s going to go down sooner or later and I am actually eager to get again residence to Australia in some unspecified time in the future.

“However I might like to do six months and 6 months. The summer season over right here is especially stunning, particularly when cricket and rugby league are being performed in the identical season.

“You by no means know what life goes to throw at you, so I am positively going for that citizenship and you may correctly lock me in.”

Final yr’s Girls’s Tremendous League marketing campaign noticed Leeds end runners-up to St Helens within the Grand Remaining and it was an analogous story final Saturday after they met on this yr’s Betfred Girls’s Problem Cup last, taking place 18-8 to the holders at Elland Highway.

The Rhinos now have to attend till subsequent Friday to get their 2022 league marketing campaign in Group 1 underway after they face Huddersfield Giants, who open in opposition to York Metropolis Knights this Sunday. The opposite Group 1 match of the day sees reigning champions St Helens host Wigan Warriors.

Group 2 now includes seven groups following Castleford Tigers’ resolution to voluntarily drop down from Group 1 to help their long-term growth and options two newcomers to the competitors in promoted Betfred Girls’s Championship sides Leigh Miners Rangers and Barrow Raiders.

Winfield-Hill and her Leeds team-mates can be aiming to guide the cost to topple Saints in 2022 and he or she additionally has the inducement of having the ability to be a part of this yr’s Rugby League World Cup which might see her lining up in opposition to Australia for England within the knock-out phases.

“Wanting on the World Cup, that may very well be a risk in a semi-final or a last given we’re in numerous teams,” Winfield-Hill mentioned. “To be trustworthy, I might actually love that chance – my two favorite groups face to face.

“That may be actually cool and if anybody is conflicted it may be my household greater than me, however in that very same breath I do know they’re utterly on board over right here and once I advised them in regards to the alternative they shook me and mentioned ‘you need to say sure’.

“Ought to that be the case, I do know they will be coming over and reserving flights, and so they will not be distant.”

Sunday’s Betfred Girls’s Tremendous League 2022 Spherical 1 fixtures

Group 1: St Helens vs Wigan Warriors, Huddersfield Giants vs York Metropolis Knights (each 2pm).

Group 2: Barrow Raiders vs Warrington Wolves (12pm), Leigh Miners Rangers vs Wakefield Trinity (2pm), Bradford Bulls vs Featherstone Rovers (5.15pm).