Wolfhounds were boosted by the return of captain Aoife Dalton for the trip to Wales
Richard Bullick
Young Ulster hooker Maebh Clenaghan was among the try-scorers as Wolfhounds banished bad memories of their historic defeat to Brython Thunder in Llanelli by returning to winning ways back on Welsh soil seven days later.
Transformed by the return of their excellent captain Aoife Dalton, new Ireland skipper Erin King and star scrumhalf Aoibheann Reilly, reigning Celtic Challenge champions Wolfhounds won 52-7 against Gwalia Lightning to maintain their place at the top of the table.
They remain two points clear of Irish rivals Clovers ahead of the derby battle between them at Belfield Bowl this Saturday (3pm) in the final round of regular league games which will determine who finishes first in the standings, but both are guaranteed home semi-finals.
After weathering some early pressure from their third-placed hosts, Wolfhounds showed their ruthless streak in scoring five converted tries to lead 35-0 at the interval despite facing into the breeze in the opening period.
They had the bonus-point in the bag inside 28 minutes, Dalton fending off a couple of opponents, using good footwork in heavy traffic and offloading deliciously to Reilly, who put the captain’s Ireland centre partner Eve Higgins away for Wolfhounds’ fourth try.
King, who was sinbinned later in the game, had got the ball rolling with the opening score of the afternoon a quarter of an hour earlier, there was a first half brace of tries for powerful winger Katie Corrigan and also a touchdown for Player of the Match Linda Djougang.
With just two regular front row forwards on the bench, Wolfhounds had been counting on top prop Djougang again going 80 minutes like the previous game and she duly did so before giving a typically gracious post-match interview.
Dannah O’Brien’s place-kicking stats haven’t been quite where she would like in this Celtic Challenge to date but the Ireland outhalf, who along with Dalton was name-checked as a Player of the Match contender, nailed all five first half conversions here.
She couldn’t add the extras when hooker Clenaghan dotted down at the back of a dominant maul right at the start of the second half, or to the sixth try which her cross-kick created for replacement Amy Larn after a scoreless 30 minutes for the visitors.
But O’Brien converted the late intercept try by fullback Stacey Flood – whose sublime passes had released Corrigan for both her touchdowns – which brought up the half century for Neill Alcorn’s side in the closing stages.
It was a very satisfying afternoon for Wolfhounds and the perfect response to what had happened the previous Saturday at Parc Y Scarlets, where a badly depleted team had suffered their first-ever defeat against non-Irish opposition.
The normally prolific Wolfhounds hadn’t registered anything at all in that 14-0 defeat by Brython, with the atrocious conditions a mitigating factor, but they returned to their free-flowing best in the Caerphilly sunshine.
Ystrad Mynach can feel like a hostile environment for visiting sides but it has lost its sense of fortress following a third consecutive home defeat for Gwalia, who are now on a losing streak of four games after four wins on the spin.
Beaten 44-10 in Cork on an afternoon when Wolfhounds devastatingly scored three tries in the first seven minutes and Clenaghan got both her side’s second half touchdowns, Lightning subsequently lost at home to Clovers and then Glasgow Warriors.
It would take a 40-point pasting by Brython in this Sunday’s derby in Llanelli for Gwalia to slip from third to fourth place, but their Welsh rivals are undeniably in far better form at the business end of the campaign having now won four matches in a row.
Wolfhounds were forced into a late change from the team announced on Friday, Cliodhna Ni Chonchobhair starting at blindside flanker in place of Aoife Corcoran, with the former’s place on the bench taken by last Saturday’s debutant Usha Daly-O’Toole.
The team which took the field at Ystrad Mynach had seven personnel changes and three positional switches compared with the run-on line-up in Llanelli, with Flood, O’Brien, Djougang, Sophie Barrett and Kate Jordan the only players wearing the same jerseys.
Reilly came back in for her regular understudy Jade Gaffney at the base of the scrum, while Corrigan and Irish sevens skipper Megan Burns took over from Maggie Boylan and former Armagh gaelic footballer Niamh Marley on the wings.
Dannah O’Brien converted all five first half tries for red hot Wolfhounds in Caerphilly
Higgins reverted to inside centre in place of the previous weekend’s debutant Cara Martin to accommodate the return of captain Dalton – whose left thigh was heavily strapped throughout – in her familiar No 13 jersey.
With both regular flankers, last season’s Wolfhounds skipper Claire Boles and Munster’s interpro title-winning captain Maeve Og O’Leary, still absent, Alcorn bolstered his back row by moving Ulster skipper India Daley there from hooker as well as bringing back King.
The adaptable Daley wore the No 8 jersey with the versatile King deployed at openside flanker, so Clenaghan got a start at hooker between the legendary Djougang and Maebh’s fellow young Ulsterwoman Barrett.
The engineroom pairing from the first few rounds of the current Celtic Challenge was restored by the recall of young Naoise Smyth alongside Jordan, whose Blackrock clubmate Ni Chonchobhair switched to blindside.
Ireland back five forward Fiona Tuite, who had captained the team in Dalton’s absence against Brython and packed down in the unfamiliar role of No 8, sat out this match entirely, with Corcoran and Regan Casey the other forwards dropping out of the starting pack.
Ulster front row Sarah Roberts was included in the matchday squad for the first-time, joining 18-year-old EmmaJane Wilson, fit-again giant Alma Atagamen, Daly-O’Toole and Casey as the forward replacements, with Alex Connor, Kate Farrell-McCabe and Larn as backs cover.
With a point to prove themselves, Gwalia also fielded a strengthened team, bolstered by the return of scrumhalf Sian Jones, while tough flanker Bethan Lewis, who has captained Wales, was made available by Gloucester Hartpury as they had no PRW game at the weekend.
Ireland Player of the Year Dalton led out Wolfhounds for what was her first ever appearance at Ystrad Mynach, having been rested for last season’s away game against Gwalia, but the visitors took time to settle, starting with O’Brien kicking out on the full in the opening minute.
Lightning laid siege to the Wolfhounds line but couldn’t manage to strike, with an O’Brien intercept five metres from her own line in the fifth minute eventually easing the pressure, and Alcorn’s women gradually worked their way upfield.
Player of the Match Linda Djougang was among seven try-scorers for Wolfhounds
There was a perfectly-timed huge hit by Dalton chasing O’Brien’s kick to the Gwalia 10-metre line, King won a penalty at the breakdown when Corrigan made the next tackle and Wolfhounds went to touch.
Higgins made a typical carving break after Clenaghan’s lineout throw had been tapped down to Reilly by King, but Flood was bundled into touch on the opposite side of the pitch some five metres out.
King got through too easily at an unguarded ruck to score Wolfhounds’ first try, O’Brien converting, and Dalton made another couple of crunching hits before almost scoring a try when she broke down the left touchline but was tackled just short of the line.
But Wolfhounds kept pressing and Corrigan, who had a little earlier shown her power by sitting down an opposition player like a rampaging Jonah Lomu, crossed in the right corner from Flood’s long pass just before the end of the first quarter.
O’Brien converted from wide out and, although Gwalia were lucky not to lose Bethan Lewis to the sinbin for a deliberate knock-on, they soon sustained more scoreboard damage, Djougang charging over after Corrigan was well tackled in the right corner.
Cross about being hit in the air trying to take a high ball moments earlier, Dalton soon set up her team’s fourth try with that bruising break and gorgeous offload, leaving the BBC’s Welsh commentators waxing lyrical about the world-class centre and her fantastic team.
That try by Higgins was Wolfhounds’ third touchdown in a nine-minute purple patch and there was time for one more before the break, although Smyth seemed a little fortunate to get away with just a sore nose but no card after going into a tackle quite upright meantime.
Ireland skipper Erin King wins a lineout for Wolfhounds during last weekend’s win
Carys Hughes cleared out on the full from Flood’s chip over the top and, although Djougang was somehow held up over the line by scrumhalf Jones, the pressure continued until the Wolfhounds fullback fizzed a great pass out to Corrigan for her second try.
The perfectly-struck touchline conversion by O’Brien made it 35-0 at the interval and things got worse for Gwalia when Hughes cleared to touch on the full from the restart and the Wolfhounds pack powered all the way from the 22 for the Clenaghan try.
With half an hour remaining, there was another lovely offload from Dalton to Reilly after the Wolfhounds skipper had taken a great line following a King pick-up at a scrum, but Gwalia won a penalty at the next breakdown.
A lengthy stoppage soon followed for a head injury to Corrigan, which saw her give way to Olympian Larn, and Alcorn made more changes as Connor replaced Reilly at scrumhalf and Wilson, Atagamen and Casey came on for Daley, Smyth and Ni Chonchobhair respectively.
King was sinbinned for a breakdown infringement just before the hour and Dalton packed down at openside flanker for the next Wolfhounds scrum, which yielded a penalty for the visitors and led BBC co-commentator Robyn Wilkins to quip ‘is there nothing she can’t do?’.
The only other time one can recall Dalton going into a makeshift back row was when Ireland walloped Wales in Cork in the 2024 Six Nations and this too was an unfamiliar unit, with starting hooker Clenaghan now at blindside and Casey filling in for King at No 8.
Gwalia got their only score of the afternoon when Bethan Lewis forced her way over on 66 minutes from a tapped penalty, Hughes converting, and a battered Dalton – who had taken a big bang in the build-up – left the field for the first time in this campaign.
But Wolfhounds were already assured of their seventh bonus point win from her seventh match as captain though what was a BBC iPlayer afternoon for the Dalton family didn’t go as well for Aoife’s brother Marcas, despite him pointing as Offaly lost to Tyrone in Dungannon.
Barrett bowed out at the same time as Dalton, Roberts coming on with Djougang moving across to tighthead and the final change came on 71 minutes when Jordan gave way to late call-up Daly-O’Toole.
King was back from the sinbin now, packing down between replacement Casey and starting hooker Clenaghan in the back row, but rejigged Wolfhounds weren’t content just to see out the remaining minutes for what was already a comprehensive victory.
Despite all the changes, Wolfhounds finished with a flourish, Flood coming up with a superb 50:22 to establish the field position which saw O’Brien kick to the right and Larn get the touchdown with Dalton’s replacement Farrell-McCabe also lurking.
There was still time for Flood to pick off a Gwalia pass and, although she hadn’t the pace to race clear all the way to the line, the hugely experienced sevens star stopped, stepped an opponent nonchalantly and scored by the posts to give O’Brien a straightforward conversion.
The match ended with a Wolfhounds knock-on as they tried to open out in their own 22 following a brilliant turnover, but the back-to-back champions have their mojo back as they target a final push for that hat-trick of Celtic Challenge crowns.
Having Dalton, King and Reilly back was a big boost, but this was a very impressive victory considering Robyn O’Connor, Vicky Elmes-Kinlan, Gaffney, Caoimhe Molloy, Cara McLean, Tuite, Boles, O’Leary and Poppy Garvey were all missing from Wolfhounds’ matchday 23.
In their post-match interviews, both Alcorn and Djougang made reference to Wolfhounds having got back to what has made them so successful, but also a desire to keep pushing on ahead of the mouth-watering derby battle with Clovers in Dublin.
WOLFHOUNDS (v Gwalia Lightning): Stacey Flood; Katie Corrigan (Amy Larn, 54), Aoife Dalton (capt; Kate Farrell-McCabe, 67), Eve Higgins, Megan Burns; Dannah O’Brien, Aoibheann Reilly (Alex Connor, 54); Linda Djougang, Maebh Clenaghan, Sophie Barrett (Sarah Roberts, 67), Kate Jordan (Usha Daly-O’Toole, 71), Naoise Smyth (Alma Atagamen, 54); Cliodhna Ni Chonchobhair (Regan Casey, 54), Erin King, India Daley (EmmaJane Wilson, 54).
Wolfhounds star scrumhalf Aoibheann Reilly was back to torment Gwalia Lightning
