While Barrow Ladies’ hopes of claiming the Women’s Championship title were dashed by a 40-4 play-off defeat against Warrington Wolves last Saturday, Simon Woodend’s side could still reflect on a brilliant season.

Just over a year ago, Barrow had finished sixth in the table after having to battle against relegation, so being at the Manchester Regional Arena, in the shadow of the Etihad Stadium, represented a significant achievement.

They went into the match as underdogs, as Warrington were undefeated in the league since Barrow themselves had beaten them in the opening weekend of the season back in April.

The Wolves were soon into their stride, pushing Barrow back with some powerful running and quick play, and this strong possession soon told as, following an unlucky Barrow mistake, Meg Garvey forced herself over from close range.

Barrow weren’t being allowed to settle, with some clever play from Michelle Davies forcing them to defend their line. That defence eventually gave out when another costly error allowed Rebekah Wilson to glide over.

Davis converted both tries to make the score 12-0 after 12 minutes and Barrow needed to fight hard, which they did with Natalie Saunders, Emily Stirzaker and Michelle Larkin making good progress.

However, they fell further behind when some great running led to hooker Dan Bound sprinting in from 30 metres, with Davis converting again.

Barrow gave themselves a foothold right on half-time when Stirzaker took the ball up to the Warrington line before Jodie Litherland fed the ball out to Larkin, who raced in to score, but Litherland couldn’t add the extras.

The Wolves continued to stretch the Barrow defence in the second half, with their impressive scrum-half Danni Brown causing all kinds of problems.

They went on to run in two quick tries through Aimie Toher and Davis to extend their lead to 28-4 and effectively seal their place in next season’s Women’s Super League.

Warrington then drove though again against a fatigued Barrow side as prop forward Rowanne Smalley brushed off several tired Barrow tackles to crash over from 20 yards out.

Player of the match Brown then rounded off the scoring, as she showed all her pace and skill to race over for a superb try.