Saints' Leah Burke keen to make most of her first Wembley

Now fully fit again after a lengthy lay-off Burke is excited about stepping out on to the big stage to face Leeds Rhinos in a repeat of last year’s Challenge Cup final.

The former elite artistic gymnast, who switched to rugby league in 2018, admitted it was tough sitting out the history-making trip last year – but is keen to grab this opportunity with both hands.

The 25-year-old Leyther said: “Sitting out last year and watching everyone make history by being the first women’s team to win the Challenge Cup at Wembley was tough to watch.

“Last year’s final came four weeks after surgery on a ruptured ACL – which is a 9-12 month recovery - so I’d accepted that I wasn’t going to be playing.

“Watching from the side was still tough, but there are other girls that missed out and we celebrated it as a group and to be able to do it again this year will be massive.

“I have worked hard to get back this year, but being able to walk out Wembley with Saints with a big, massive group of friends, is still special.”

Saints beat York to reach the Wembley final, which will be the first of Saturday’s triple headers at the national stadium.

In the past two week’s there have been no resting on laurels with tough games against Leeds Rhinos and Wigan keeping them battle-hardened.

Burke said: “We’ve had some tough performances and we’ve got the wins the past couple of weeks, that energy is there and we’re all really excited for the weekend.”

The competing clubs are fierce rivals and they played out a tough encounter in Super League a fortnight ago which saw Saints have to defend for long periods of the first 20 and a good chunk of the latter stages.

But that sort of game is now traditional when the two long-standing leaders of women’s rugby league lock horns.

“I think when you step onto that pitch you have to bring that intensity when playing against Leeds.

“They are a strong, dominant team and I think we just need to match that intensity and I think we did the other week so we’ll have to do the same again this week.

“I think we can just build on that and just do what we do as Saints and we just want to play our own way,” Burke said.

Burke only started playing rugby while at university in 2018, following a short break from sport after spending the years between the ages of 3 to 16 in gymnastics.

She explained how her first sport, although radically different, had helped give her core strength and toughen her up for rugby league.

She explains: “I actually got into the elite gymnastics pathway when I was aged 6, which then involved training 20-odd hours a week.

“I represented the North West at county level and I competed at the British Championships, and against all the Olympians around that time like Beth Tweddle , Claudia Fragapane and Ellie Downie.

“I finished when I was 16 after sustaining stress fractures in my lower back. I had achieved everything I wanted to achieve in gymnastics – and I didn't want to injure myself for like the rest of my life."

After retiring from artistic gymnastics Burke took time out to recover and then started playing rugby aged 19, but recalls how the bars, beam, floor and ball prepared her for the tough challenges she now faces on the rugby pitch.

“Gymnastics is a very tough sport - mentally as well as physically.

“And there's a lot of aspects you need in gymnastics - like the number of hours you have to commit yourself to.

"The skills I developed during gymnastics has obviously helped me progress into the rugby league environment, being athletic and just having that no fear attitude.

“You can't really have fear in gymnastics, so having that fearlessness going into rugby is massive because if you're scared of running at people, then you're never going to achieve anything.”

She said those early skills have also helped her develop some spatial awareness – a key skill for a player who hugs the touchline.

“Obviously the qualities needed to be a winger - having that speed on the edge, balance and always knowing where the touchline is – is aided by being on the beam or being on the floor.

“I think all sports you can use transferable skills you develop from other sports - obviously you have to work hard to learn in rugby league," she said.