National Cup and Shield semi-finals preview - Leeds' Van Essen out emulate success of junior sides

None of the West Yorkshire club’s girls’ U16 and U18 and boys’ U18 teams were considered favourites to reach Cup Finals Weekend, but all three have excelled to secure their place at the showpiece occasion on 26th and 27th April (buy tickets here). 

Molly says she and her team-mates are happy to share the underdog tag as they travel to the capital to face the trophy holders – who have lost only three times this league season – and are desperate to join the club’s other cup final representatives. 

“I don’t think people have much expectation from us going to Polonia, but we’re fine with that,” she said. 

“We have been considered the underdogs in all the matches we have played across the board in trying to reach Cup Finals and we wear that as a badge of honour. 

“The junior teams have been able to meet the challenge and come through – and we would love to be able to do that too and be there along with them. 

“Elaine (Brown, Head Coach) has been joking, saying ‘Well the juniors have done their bit, so no pressure!’. 

“It is something were would love to experience as a club, because some of the players in our Super League team play for the junior sides as well. 

 “But now it is up to us to go and make it happen, and we are excited as a squad by the challenge.” 

Leeds reached the last four with an impressive 3-1 success over an Essex Rebels side which has qualified for Final 4, having early disposed of Waterloo Thunder. 

The team will travel down tomorrow (Saturday) night to London to give themselves the best preparation for their big game. 

They go into the match having lost both regular season games against MAAREE Women’s Super League second-placed side being beaten 3-0 at home and 3-1 away.  

But Molly, who helped Gorse finish fifth in the table, just outside the Final 4, believes there is reason for optimism is the team can play to their full potential against Polonia, who negotiated ties against Essex Trinity and London Bears in earlier rounds. 

She said: “We played them early on in the season the first time when we had new people having come in who were still establishing themselves. 

“When we played them away later in the season we took a set off them and gave a better account of ourselves. 

“For us to beat Polonia we know we have to get our own preparation right and execute the game plan correctly. 

“Since we finished our league season we have been training a lot and working on how we go about things, so we have prepared well. 

“Something that the coaches have mentioned to us is that we can be our own worst enemy at times in that we get in good positions but then we can lose momentum at key moments. 

“We definitely have the talent in the team to finish things off... we just need to recognise that we are a good team and believe in ourselves, which we have been working hard to do.”

 The first serve of Leeds’ game is at 12.45pm at Score Leisure Centre, with the other Women’s National Cup Final taking place later that day. 

It will see Darkstar Derbyshire, who first conclude their league campaign tomorrow with a match against East Midlands rival The University of Nottingham, taking on regular season tale toppers Malory Eagles (3pm). 

Maria Bertelli’s side struggled to make headway before Christmas, but have had a decent run since, pulling themselves away from the bottom three and into the play-off spot where they will face NVL Division 1’s second-placed side. 

Their improved form has seen them win six of their last nine Super League encounters to go with victories over Durham Palatinates, Stockport and Everton Belugas in earlier National Cup rounds. 

But their task against Malory remains a tough one, given the visitors have lost only once in league action during the 2024-25 season.

That includes a win over Darkstar in the final game of their regular season, coming out on top 3-0 at ACS Cobham International School. 

While the Londoners have one eye on Final 4 early next month (get tickets here), they will, like Polonia believe they have the squad depth to win a league and cup double. 

They have overcome Newcastle Knights and Cambridge ARU in making their way through to this stage. 

In the Women’s Shield it is the battle of the Division 2 sides in the bid to reach Cup Finals Weekend, with both games starting within an hour of each other. 

First, Division 2 East Northampton side Bristol take on Division 2 West at Moulton College (1pm), with both sides used to winning this season. 

The hosts are set to finish third in their division and have a 10-3 record with one game of their league season to go. 

Bristol, meanwhile, are favourites to finish second in their table, and earn promotion, having won eight and lost twice with two games left to play. 

At 2pm, the second semi-final will get underway and pitches Bristol’s league rivals, Bedminster, against Division 2 North promotion winners Loughborough Students. 

Bemi are third in their table, having won eight and lost three in the league, while the East Midlanders have a 10-3 record. 

The latter have enjoyed wins over Birmingham City, Tamworth Spartans, champions of their division Manchester Marvels and Newcastle Panthers to reach this stage. 

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The Men’s National Cup tomorrow (Saturday) features to all-DYNAMIK Men’s Super League face offs that mean an exciting final is in prospect, whatever the semi results. 

Life Leisure Brinnington Park will see that first match contested at 2pm as Stockport will hope to give their season a silver lining following relegation from the top-flight when they hosts Malory Eagles. 

While the home side will not be well fancied to progress, they have shown on countless occasions this season they can be competitive against the best sides especially at home where they beat University of Nottingham on straight sets and took regular season table toppers Essex to five.  

In the Cup so far, those in orange and blue have beaten Division 2 Norh side Wigan Seahawks and Division 1 outfits London Aces and Cambridge ARU.

For their part, last season’s beaten finalists Malory – losing in four sets to Durham – have been in menacing form this season, with 14 league victories from their 18 matches.  

Their progress to the semis has seen them account for Division 1 Newcastle Staffs, fellow Final 4 side Newcastle Knights and Lincoln Cannons. 

At 7.30pm the mouth-watering tie between Essex Rebels and London Giants – both in the FInal 4 – gets underway at Colchester’s Essex Sports Arena. 

The Rebels have enjoyed a stellar 2024-25 season to finish two points clear of Malory in the race for Super League top spot. 

This week they also clinched the BUCS Championship title as they beat the University of East London in the final, held in Loughborough, and have beaten both reigning champions Durham Palatinates and IBB Polonia in previous National Cup rounds. 

This match will see them continue to hunt for trophies on multiple fronts where the squad depth of Alex Porter’s charges has really come into play. 

To reach the last four, Essex have defeated But the Giants will provide formidable opposition as the form team of the second half of the season. 

Mihail Stoev’s appointment to Head Coach – and the influx of a number of new players – has sparked a huge turnaround in fortunes. 

In their last nine games they have won eight of them, with the majority by 3-0 scorelines. Their only defeat in that time?... against the Rebels.  

Their place in the semi-finals was secured with triumphs over University of Bristol and fellow Super League sides Essex Blaze and Richmond Docklands.

The Men’s Shield has also come to the semi-final stage and see one North v South battle and an all-Midlands affair. 

In Yorkshire, Sheffield, who have clinched a promotion spot in Division 2 North meet Wessex, who are champions of Division 2 South, with first serve at 1.30pm. 

The South Yorkshire side’s 9-3 seasonal record means they still have an outside chance of securing their divisional title, but only if Manchester Marvels slip up. 

The South Coast side in comparison are already assured of top spot with one game to go after victory in nine of their 11 games so far. 

At 2.30pm, its the battle of the two sides split by just one place in Division 2 Central as West Midlands outfit Coventry and Warwick Riga meet Loughborough Students. 

Both have put in confident displays in the league, with the hosts having a 9-4 record with one game of their league season left to go. 

Loughborough, meanwhile, lost their only two league fixtures of the campaign – one of them to Coventry – but have not lost since, posting 11 league victories on the spin.

Images by Nathaniel Macrae