The Betfred Women’s Super League (BWSL) will resume this weekend, although the five remaining contenders for the Grand Final at Emerald Headingley in October will wait another two weeks before an intense climax to the season.

On the weekend of August 21-22, Leeds Rhinos, the reigning champions from 2019, will relaunch their bid to retain their title with a short trip to Castleford in a repeat of the 2019 Grand Final – while St Helens host York City Knights at the Totally Wicked Stadium in a repeat of this year’s Betfred Women’s Challenge Cup Final.

Wigan Warriors, the 2018 Grand Final winners who complete the top five contenders for the 2021 title, rejoin the action the following Sunday at home to Castleford at Robin Park Arena, after a second away game for Leeds against York at the LNER CommunityStadium.

The five teams will play each other once and will be jockeying for position and home advantage in the BWSL Play-Offs Semi Finals on the weekend of September 25-26, with the winners of those games then having a fortnight to prepare for the 2021 BWSL Grand Final on Sunday October 10.

Details of streaming coverage for the remainder of the season, and ticket information for the Grand Final, will be published in the coming weeks.

The remaining five BWSL teams will also be battling for a place at Emerald Headingley on October 10 in the BWSL Shield.

Those games start this Sunday (August 8) with Wakefield Trinity hosting Featherstone Rovers at the Mobile Rocket Stadium, and Warrington Wolves facing Huddersfield Giants in their first BWSL fixture at the Halliwell Jones Stadium – kicking off at midday, before the Wolves face Hull FC in the Betfred Super League.

Bradford Bulls will resume against Huddersfield on Tuesday August 17, and the Shield will also build to Semi Finals between the top four on the weekend of September 25-26, with the winners earning places in the BWSL Shield Grand Final at the Emerald Headingley double header on October 10.

The BWSL season was paused two weeks ago, one week ahead of the scheduled mid-season break, following a number of fixture postponements, to allow the 10 squads to have an immediate ‘circuit-break’ from the challenges presented by positive Covid-19 tests, self-isolations and injuries.

Points earned from previous matches in the BWSL will not be carried forward to the Play-Offs or Shield, because teams had played different numbers of matches against different opponents.

🏆 @yckladies will resume their @Betfred Women's Super League campaign on the weekend of August 21st/22nd before double-headers at the @LNER Community Stadium in the coming weeks.

📸 @AndyNel60768998#WeAreYork⚔️

— York City Knights⚔️ (@YorkKnightsRLFC) August 6, 2021

The Betfred Women’s Super League South continues as scheduled, with London Broncos facing Bedford Tigers this weekend in a match that will be streamed live on Our League – as the first part of a double header followed by the Broncos men’s team taking on the Betfred Championship leaders Toulouse Olympique.

That will be the last round of regular season matches in the BWSL South, with semi finals at Aldershot next weekend (August 14-15), and details of the Final on August 29 to be confirmed soon.