HEAD coach Lee Westwood says Warrington Wolves Women are “quietly confident” of pulling off a Challenge Cup upset this afternoon.

In what will be the biggest test of their maiden campaign so far, The Wire Women travel to holders Leeds Rhinos with a semi-final berth at stake.

They will be facing a team stacked with international talent on their own turf, but Westwood believes his side can upset the apple cart.

He also believes all the pressure is on the Rhinos – something he feels will help his side.

“We’re quietly confident but all I want is for the girls to give it their best shot,” he said.

“You’ve always got to believe you can win. We’ve been training well to try and find a way to win there.

“We’ve got to play the game at our pace and not worry too much about what they do.

“It would be an upset if we win but if we focus on what we do, we can turn them over.

“There’s no pressure on us – we’re going there to play to the best of our ability.

“You just never know – anything can happen in knockout football as we’ve seen in the men’s competition with the likes of Halifax getting to the semis.

“If we can sneak a win, let’s see where it takes us.”

Warrington Guardian:

Head coach Lee Westwood with assistant coach and namesake Ben. Picture by Mike Boden

With three wins from four league matches, The Wire currently sit third in the Women’s Championship as they seek promotion to Super League at the first time of asking.

The match at Sports Park Weetwood will be the team’s first against top-flight opposition and Westwood says this is precisely the test they need in order to see how ready they are for the next step.

“It’s the challenge we’ve been waiting for,” he said.

“We’ve been building and building through the league games and we’ve been getting better every time we play.

“We’re excited about the challenge. We’re going to go over there, give it our all and see where it takes us.

“We want to be playing in Super League as soon as possible and coming up against these teams week in, week out.

“We’re getting the chance a lot earlier than we thought we would but the girls are ready to go.”

Kick off for today’s game is at 12noon.