Savannah Andrade’s hat-trick, alongside doubles from Tamzin Renouf and new signings Jazz Rampton and Tara Moxon, helped the Valkyrie to a 54-6 rout of Women’s Championship side Featherstone on their return to the LNER Community Stadium.
But it was not a performance without its errors, and was at times a far cry from the high standards York have set themselves over recent seasons, with the director of rugby asking questions of her players’ mentality.
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“I’m obviously really happy with the win,” Anfield said at full time. “But probably not in the same fashion that we played last week.
“Our mentality was slightly off today, and there were too many errors for our liking, but a win’s a win in the Cup I guess.”
The Valkyrie began their cup campaign with a 56-0 thrashing of Huddersfield last weekend but needed a much-improved second half to see themselves across the line against a Featherstone side that were willing to work for each other and were hard to break down.
In particular, Anfield was disappointed to see half-back Liv Grace pull a try back for the visitors with a close-range dart for the line, something she had warned her players about through the week.
Asked what changed in the second half, she explained: “We had a good chat at half time and picked up on a few things.
“We’d previewed Fev and knew what they were about. One of the things we’d spoken about all week was Liv Grace near the try-line and we let Liv Grace score on the try-line, so there were quite a few frustrating things today.
“But nevertheless, the girls have all owned it, they’re accountable for how they play and they know that, so we’ll move forward from it.”
Debutant Izzy Bibby (centre) was among the scorers for the Valkyrie. (Image: Craig Hawkhead Photography) It was though another encouraging display from the club’s new recruits, with off-season signings Ellie Williamson, Rampton, Moxon, and Izzy Bibby all crossing the whitewash.
“Jazz Rampton, she played last week and that was only her third game of rugby league, today was her fourth game of rugby league and she got another couple of tries.
“It was Izzy Bibby’s first game for us at hooker, again she went really well, and Tara Moxon, she’s never played in the second row before, so that was a new one.
“There’s been new faces all around and across the squad this year and they’re taking time to bed in, but it is quite frustrating when there’s as many errors as there were today. It’s not great for the fans or spectators either.”
