Women's Challenge Cup: St Helens' Emily Rudge goes from final ball girl to playing at Wembley

As a schoolgirl, Emily Rudge served as a ball girl for the Challenge Cup final and walked the Wembley turf on a lap of honour with future St Helens and England team-mate Jodie Cunningham as part of the Cardinal Newman High School teams which won the Champion Schools tournament.

While the pair talked about how incredible it would be to one day grace the same big stage as the men as players, little did they realise in the future that they would be among the players who would be breaking new ground.

Because, on Saturday, that childhood hope becomes a reality when Saints face Leeds Rhinos in the first Betfred Women's Challenge Cup final to be played at Wembley - and for Rudge, it is the culmination of a dream which took root when she was on the sidelines as ball girl for the 2003 final.

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"I did actually get on the pitch then and I remember loving that whole experience, so to now actually walk out as a player is so exciting," Rudge told Sky Sports.

"Me and Jodie were part of the Champion Schools tournament and walked around Wembley a couple of times after we'd won, and we said then 'how amazing would this be?' as kids.

"We were never actually thinking we'd have that opportunity, so now it has come around it's so exciting for everyone involved.

"It's been a long time coming for a lot of women involved in the game and Wembley is such an iconic stage for the Challenge Cup."

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Wembley is a venue St Helens' men have savoured plenty of success at, with 10 of their 13 Challenge Cup triumphs coming there, and now the women are aiming to join that history of triumphs at the national stadium.

Their male counterparts' hopes of a return to the iconic ground were ended by a 12-10 defeat to Leigh Leopards in the semi-finals last month, but the club have gone all out to ensure the women are given exactly the same preparation to ensure the players are at their peak come 12pm on Saturday.

"What I've loved about Saints is they've really treated us as if the men would have got there," Rudge said.

"We're in the same hotel, we're having the same sort of treatment they've had in previous years when they've been in the Challenge Cup final and that's so important.

It's been a long time coming for a lot of women involved in the game and Wembley is such an iconic stage for the Challenge Cup.

"The girls want to go out there and perform and play well for the club, and the club, rightly, are treating us like they would do with any other team.

"It makes the whole occasion more special, and it makes it really exciting for us to go down on Friday and take in that atmosphere and go out there and perform."

The decision to take the Women's Challenge Cup final to Wembley after it had been part of a treble-header with the two men's semi-finals since 2019 is a further sign of how the profile of the game is growing and aiming to build on last year's Rugby League World Cup on these shores.

Rudge is excited to be involved in rugby league at a time when there are so many more opportunities opening up for female players than in the past, although she admits she feels sympathy that pioneers like Andrea Dobson and Emma Slowe who she represented England with retired before being able to enjoy the same.

In turn though, the 31-year-old wants the game to keep growing for the next generation, with the next major step for the Betfred Women's Super League being more clubs to join Leeds and York Valkyrie in paying players, even on a part-time basis to start with.

"We want the game to grow, and we want the women to get paid eventually," Rudge said. "I think it just takes the pressure off the girls.

"Even this week, girls are at work, and they've had to get the Friday off to go down and some have found that difficult.

"It sounds crazy that they're going to play at Wembley and struggling to get time off, but hopefully that won't be the case in the next couple of years.

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"Whenever that happens in the future, I hope there will be full-time professional women and that will really change the game and make it that bit fiercer and more competitive."

St Helens reached the Women's Challenge Cup final for the third year in a row following a thrilling 17-16 win over York which was settled by a late drop goal from Faye Gaskin and face a familiar final opponent in the Rhinos.

The sides met in both the 2021 BWSL Grand Final and last year's Women's Challenge Cup final, with Saints emerging victorious on each occasion.

Rudge scored two tries as St Helens defeated the Rhinos 38-18 in their league meeting at the end of May and they sit one place above Leeds in the table in second too, but the forward knows they face a fight on their hands to retain the Cup at Wembley.

"We're quite familiar with Leeds and we've played them a number of times, and last year it could have gone either way," Rudge said. "It was so close margins that they lost out and we managed to get the win.

"It's going to be a fantastic game to watch and it's going to be tough for us, but we're definitely going out there to keep hold of that trophy and win at Wembley."