Wigan Warriors v St Helens sets impressive record crowd for women's game at Robin Park Arena

The Warriors Women remain unbeaten in 2025, but dropped their first point of the season in the draw with rivals St Helens after finding themselves in an unusual position of being behind at the break.

Saints crossed for three tries in the first half to take a 16-6 advantage into the half-time interval, but pulled it back in the second half to share the spoils with the Saints in what was the first meeting between the two since Wigan’s 42-6 win in the Challenge Cup final at Wembley Stadium on June 7.

“I thought we got frustrated in the early parts, we had a couple of opportunities that didn’t come off, and then we started to push things,” said Betts. “Saints are a good side with some good players in that group, they got some field position, and then we sat on our line for three or four sets.

“There were spots where we lacked a bit of energy, and that’s something that we’ve not really seen this year from our group.

"The Challenge Cup final win has given everybody this different feeling of what the game is, and I thought today overall it’s been fantastic for us because you don’t get challenged unless you are put in that situation to be challenged.

"I thought today we went behind on the scoreboard, but we responded, and then we fell behind again, and we responded – we didn’t let our heads drop. They all got back on track, and we responded to things that we hadn’t had to cope with this year. Am I happy with the draw? Not really, no, but we put our hand up and we’ve done some things that we haven’t really had to do yet this year, we haven’t had to be that tough.

“We’ve beaten most sides by 40-odd points, so it was a tough challenge today. We came out in that second half, we got back level at 16-all, and the girls had to get on with what’s next and added a lesson we’ll learn at the end. We had an opportunity right at the death, but they’ve got some good, quality, experienced players in their team, and they dug deep and they showed their worth today. I thought it was a really tough game.”

Sunday’s derby saw a new record crowd set at Robin Park Arena for a Women’s game, with an impressive 1,228 attendance for the derby double-header, which saw the Women’s Academy sides go head-to-head beforehand.

"Unbelievable, that’s what it’s all about,” Betts added. “What we’ve done this year is transform our gamedays, and that’s down to the staff here, the marketing, Georgia Wilson and how hard she works to generate an atmosphere both on and off the field as well as having to play the game. The girls deserve that, to feel like it’s a big game and a proper game.”