Rugby League: Former Whitworth Warrior player part of England Women's side touring Papua New Guinea

A former rugby player for Whitworth Warriors is part of the England Women’s team which won their first match in Papua New Guinea 24-10 in front of a large and enthusiastic crowd of around 7,000 in Goroka on Saturday (9 November).

Faye Gaskin, formerly of the Whitworth side, is part of the team which got their historic two-game tour of Papua New Guinea off to a winning start.

Captain Emily Rudge, a second-row who plays for St Helens, made history with the first four-try haul for England Women while Dannielle Anderson of Leeds and Wigan’s Rachel Thompson also touched down. Unusually, all 24 of England's points came from tries, with none of them converted.

Craig Richards, the England Women head coach, said: “I’m delighted with the effort from the girls as it was an absolute war of attrition. 

“I was pleased to see the girls dig in and overcome the testing circumstances such as the weather, physicality and a vocal home crowd in Goroka. 

“The whole point of coming to Papua New Guinea wasn’t for the scorelines but it was to put ourselves in tough environments and see how we react, and the girls reacted in this first test." 

It took more than 20 minutes for Rudge to break the deadlock, powering over from a short pass from Saints team-mate Jodie Cunningham – and the pair combined again for Rudge’s second to establish an 8-0 half-time lead.

The 28-year-old schoolteacher became the fourth England Women’s player to score an international hat-trick with an eye-catching third which extended the lead in the second half, and Anderson then crashed over to take the tourists further ahead.

The Orchids hit back through Shirley Joe from acting half-back, but Rudge then took Anderson’s pass to score her fourth, and Thompson rounded off the England scoring after good work from Charlotte Booth – although Ua Rave claimed a second for the Orchids late on.

The teams now travel down from the Eastern Highlands for Saturday’s second test at the Oil Search Stadium in Port Moresby, in a fixture which will be played before the men's test between Great Britain and the Kumuls.

The second test will be shown live by the BBC on Saturday morning (16 November), on the BBC red button, iPlayer and the BBC Sport website – as well as through the RFL’s Our League web and app.

The match will kick off at 5am UK time, before coverage switches to BBC Two at 7am as Great Britain’s men play their first Test against Papua New Guinea since 1996.

Both matches, starting with the England Women will be repeated on the red button from 9.30am, and will be available to watch on iPlayer for 30 days.