Glasgow Warriors 12 – 40 Wolfhounds

ULSTER duo Sophie Barrett and Brittany Hogan (above) touched down as the Wolfhounds wrapped up the first block of Celtic Challenge games with a 40-12 bonus point win away to Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun Stadium.

This women’s cross-border annual competition is designed to develop players from Scotland, Ireland and Wales. The competition, in its second year, involves six teams in an extended format, with two from each participating nation.

The Wolfhounds contain players from Leinster and Ulster. 

Captained this time by Molly Boyne, Neill Alcorn’s Wolfhounds side scored three tries in each half to follow up on the previous week’s maximum haul in Edinburgh and move to the top of the table.

This was Glasgow’s first ever home fixture at Scotstoun Stadium but they trailed 21-5 at half-time, having leaked converted tries to the Wolfhounds’ front row trio of Delaney, Linda Djougang and Barrett.

Their third straight victory of the competition did come at a cost, with both Dannah O’Brien and Djougang forced off through injury, but the Leinster-Ulster selection tagged on second half scores from Katie Whelan, Corrigan, on her debut, and Brittany Hogan.

Phaedra Snailham marked her Glasgow debut with a try and experienced Scotland international Louise McMillan also crossed. The Wolfhounds are back in action against Wales’ Brython Thunder at Kingspan Stadium in a fortnight’s time.

In a bright opening to the contest, Ceitidh Ainsworth broke towards the visitors’ 22 as Glasgow applied the early pressure, before 19-year-old prop Barrett’s barnstorming run, via a Niamh Marley offload, almost saw her open the scoring at the other end.

The Wolfhounds held onto the territory, with Hogan and Hannah O’Connor making good metres. Leah Tarpey was held up under the posts, and Glasgow drew further encouragement from Lucy Winter’s well-won turnover penalty.

However, the deadlock was broken by Delaney in the 13th minute as the hooker, who only turned 19 last month, connected with Keelin Brady at a close-in lineout and a tidy maul delivered the opening try, converted crisply from the right by O’Brien.

With Tarpey showing her jackal skills at breakdown, the Wolfhounds’ short passing and angles of attack kept the Warriors guessing. Full-back Ella Durkan impressed under the high ball, regularly running back kicks at pace.

The pressure told again in the 19th minute when Brady dummied to go through a gap, linking with Éadaoin Murtagh who carried within a couple of metres of the line. O’Connor was tackled short before Djougang barged over to the left of the posts.

The try scorer had to go off shortly afterwards, having picked up a shoulder knock, and Glasgow, with an improving lineout, had some promising phases with out-half Ainsworth once more showing her ability to carve through the defence.

Ulster duo Hogan and Brady briefly broke up the Scottish side’s momentum with some muscular steals, but an overcooked kick from O’Brien gave Glasgow the platform, and a few minutes later, winger Snailham picked from a ruck to squeeze over in the left corner.

That concession came on the back of the Wolfhounds losing O’Brien who had to hobble off following a heavy challenge. Aoife Dalton increased her influence late in the first half, carrying strongly in attack and picking up an important turnover in her own 22.

Alcorn’s charges made sure they went into the break with another seven-pointer under their belts. Penalties put them within range and Brady’s tip-on pass released Barrett to power over from 15 metres out, taking two defenders with her. Replacement Nikki Caughey converted to make the half time score Glasgow Warriors 5 Wolfhounds 21

The bonus point was pocketed just two minutes after the restart. Scrum half Whelan capitalised on some space around the side of a ruck, breaking speedily from just outside Glasgow’s 10-metre line before shrugging off Carla McDonald’s attempted tackle to go in under the posts.

Glasgow hit back in the 48th minute, their hard-working flanker McMillan, with 48 Scotland caps to her name, showing very good strength to drive through two tackles and score. Lucy MacRae converted for a 28-12 scoreline.

Busy skipper Boyne was held up as the Wolfhounds chased a quick response, and they did get over soon after. Boyne and Delaney made good ground back into the opposition 22, and the newly-introduced Jade Gaffney, Caughey and Durkan combined to put Corrigan over out wide.

A scrappy final quarter followed with the Wolfhounds mostly on the front foot. A dink over the top from Caughey had the Warriors under pressure near their own line, before replacement Izzy Hannay popped up with a timely turnover a few phases later.

Nonetheless, Carla McDonald was caught standing behind the end line when receiving a pass, handing hard-earned possession back to the Wolfhounds who clinically took advantage.

Number 8 Hogan used the resulting five-metre scrum to bowl Ainsworth over, her powerful 72nd-minute finish swiftly added to by Caughey’s extras from the tee.

The visitors’ bench was emptied with the aforementioned Gaffney, Claire Boles, Christy Haney, Kelly McCormill, and Ava Ryder all making their Wolfhounds debuts. Ulster centre McCormill went close to scoring a late try but was crowded out by the covering Glasgow defenders.

The Scottish outfit saw out the match with 14 players as Snailham saw yellow for infringing after a fine break from O’Connor, who burst onto a Boyne pass, had taken the Wolfhounds close to the whitewash once again.

GLASGOW WARRIORS: Carla McDonald; Sky Phimister, Claudia McLaren, Lucy MacRae, Phaedra Snailham; Ceitidh Ainsworth, Mairi McDonald; Ailie Tucker, Nikki Simpson, Eilidh Fleming, Emma Turner (co-capt), Ellie Williamson, Louise McMillan, Lucy Winter, Alex Love.

Replacements: Karis Craig, Kaylee Fraser, Chloe Brown, Sophie Anderson, Izzy Hannay, Holland Bogan, Rhea Clarke (co-capt), Giselle Chicot.

WOLFHOUNDS: Ella Durkan (Blackrock College RFC/Ulster); Katie Corrigan (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Aoife Dalton (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Leah Tarpey (Railway Union RFC/Leinster), Niamh Marley (Dungannon RFC/Cooke RFC/Ulster); Dannah O’Brien (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Katie Whelan (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster); Linda Djougang (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Sarah Delaney (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster), Sophie Barrett (Enniskillen RFC/Railway Union RFC/Ulster), Keelin Brady (Railway Union RFC/Ulster), Hannah O’Connor (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster), Éadaoin Murtagh (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Molly Boyne (Railway Union RFC/Leinster) (capt), Brittany Hogan (Old Belvedere RFC/Ulster).

Replacements: Maebh Clenaghan (Queen’s University Belfast RFC/Ulster), Aoife Moore (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster), Christy Haney (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster), Claire Boles (Railway Union RFC/Ulster), Jade Gaffney (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Kelly McCormill (Cooke RFC/Ulster), Nikki Caughey (Railway Union RFC/Leinster), Ava Ryder (Railway Union RFC/Connacht).

Scorers: Glasgow Warriors: Tries: Phaedra Snailham, Louise McMillan; Con: Lucy MacRae

Wolfhounds: Tries: Sarah Delaney, Linda Djougang, Sophie Barrett, Katie Whelan, Katie Corrigan, Brittany Hogan; Cons: Dannah O’Brien 2, Nikki Caughey 3

Sophie Barrett