Wolfhounds 102 Edinburgh Rugby 0
BY RICHARD BULLICK IN DUBLIN
CAPTAIN Claire Boles from Fermanagh lifted the Celtic Challenge trophy after her ravenous Wolfhounds retained their title in stunning style by hungrily tearing Edinburgh to shreds with a record-breaking 102-0 victory at Energia Park on Saturday.
This most emphatic of wins in the Dublin sunshine for Malone man Neill Alcorn’s side saw Wolfhounds finish two points clear of Irish rivals Clovers, whose entertaining 55-33 away win against Gwalia Lightning in Wales was ultimately in vain.
That was a seventh consecutive bonus-point victory for Denis Fogarty’s side but their title hopes were dealt a fatal blow by their cancelled fixture against Glasgow Warriors, which fell foul of Storm Eowyn in late January, being declared a draw.
There were Wolfhounds hat-tricks against Edinburgh from Ireland’s teenage winger Katie Corrigan and inside centre Leah Tarpey, but the Player of the Match award deservedly went to inspirational skipper Boles for another all-action display.
Along with scoring one of 16 Wolfhounds tries herself, Boles made the brilliant break from deep which released replacement Lauren Farrell-McCabe for the score which brought up the century of points for the rampant hosts.
A fourth conversion from Farrell-McCabe to go with half a dozen earlier from Ireland outhalf Dannah O’Brien completed the scoring on an afternoon when no fewer than 11 Wolfhounds crossed the whitewash against the outclassed Scottish visitors.
That scoring contingent included young Ulster hooker Maebh Clenaghan, the only player other than Boles herself to have started all 10 matches in this successful campaign for the reigning champions.
Provincial vice-captain Brittany Hogan packed down on the opposite flank to Boles against Edinburgh while the versatile Ella Durkan and teenage Ballymena prop Sophie McAllister came off the bench like Farrell-McCabe.
Alcorn fielded no fewer than 11 full internationals in a starting line-up bolstered by the return of vice-captain Aoife Dalton, World Rugby’s Breakthrough Player of the Year Erin King and Ireland’s leading prop Linda Djougang.
That influential trio had sat out the previous Saturday’s crunch clash in Wales with a Gwalia team that had still been in title contention themselves with two rounds remaining but were well beaten 48-17 by Wolfhounds at Ystrad Mynach.
Ulster’s Maebh Clenaghan and family
The well-drilled Wolfhounds have shown impressive squad depth with a total of 39 players featuring during the course of their title defence, the nine Ulster representatives among them also including Ireland lock Fiona Tuite, scrumhalf Rachael McIlroy and Lucinda Kinghan.
Tuite didn’t feature against Edinburgh at Donnybrook, dropping out along with injured Ireland ace Eve Higgins and their fellow international Christy Haney as Alcorn made five changes to his starting line-up from the trip to Wales.
Along with the return of Djougang, Dalton and King, New Zealand-based Molly Scuffil-McCabe got another run-out ahead of Ireland’s forthcoming Six Nations campaign and there was a recall for Balbriggan’s teenage giant Alma Atagamen in the engineroom.
Along with another young lock, Cliodhna Ni Chonchubhair, Atagamen has stepped up during this Celtic Challenge amid Wolfhounds’ host of established stars while the 20-year-old Amy Larn looks like an exciting prospect in the back three.
Having shown her pace for Wolfhounds’ first try in the opening game against Clovers in Donnybrook before Christmas, Larn scored a glorious solo effort in Saturday’s final fixture from inside her own half after fielding an Edinburgh clearance.
Part of the Ireland sevens squad at last summer’s Paris Olympics, Larn switched from wing to fullback after another of the dual stars, Stacey Flood, picked up an ankle injury in round six and already looks like a real contender for this year’s World Cup squad.
Edinburgh came to Dublin having had their preparations disrupted by some injury and illness in the camp but buoyed by scoring an unanswered 17 points in the second half of their respectable 31-22 defeat at home to Wolfhounds a fortnight earlier.
However, they would have been under no illusions about the task facing them against Wolfhounds, who had the luxury of having Ireland’s Player of the Year and World XV inclusion Aoife Wafer on the bench.
Wafer was sprung for the start of the second half with Wolfhounds already leading 50-0 at the interval and the nightmare continued for Edinburgh in the shape of four further tries within 12 minutes of the resumption.
O’Brien put Dalton through a gap, the excellent Larn looped Vicky Elmes Kinlan to send Corrigan clear, captain Boles freed Tarpey with a perfectly-timed pass and the latter then thrashed through to complete her hat-trick after a darting break by Dalton.
At 74-0 with almost half an hour remaining, Edinburgh were really staring down the barrel, but to their credit the visitors kept fighting until the bitter end and were laying siege to the Wolfhounds line in the final few minutes, which saw Wafer sinbinned.
By then the hosts had added another four converted tries, starting with Boles breaking two tackles before showing impressive pace to race home on the hour mark followed by a Corrigan intercept, then the winger’s hat-trick try and finally Farrell-McCabe’s effort.
Corrigan forced her way into Ireland’s team for last spring’s Six Nations aged just 18 on the back of 12 tries in five fixtures for Wolfhounds as they won the Celtic Challenge title, and she has scored a couple of hat-tricks in this season’s competition.
Despite plundering such a huge haul of tries and amassing over 100 points, Wolfhounds had the hunger and pride to defend ferociously against that late onslaught from Edinburgh and were rewarded with the satisfaction of keeping their line intact.
Tough task-master Alcorn, who has done such a great job as Wolfhounds supremo these past two seasons, had banged the desk in frustration when his side conceded from the last play when leading 57-0 against Brython Thunder back in January but they held out this time.
Having claimed the title last season unbeaten, the only defeat for Wolfhounds in the expanded competition this time round was against Clovers at Belfield Bowl in the second of two festive derbies in the space of six days either side of Christmas.
Although Wolfhounds failed to pick up a bonus-point in their home win against Gwalia last month, they went into the final round of fixtures with their fate in their own hands thanks to Clovers dropping points as a result of that away game against Glasgow not taking place.
Any notions that Edinburgh could poop the party felt far-fetched and that proved to be the case as Wolfhounds ran in two tries in the first five minutes and had the bonus point in the bag with less than a quarter of an hour gone.
Atagamen ploughed over for the first try, Scuffil-McCabe scampered away for the second after a surging run by dynamic No 8 King, Elmes Kinlan went down the right touchline off a long pass by O’Brien and then came that electrifying fourth try from Larn.
O’Brien’s delivery to Elmes Kinlan for the previous score had looked forward but both she and Dalton were subsequently blown for ambitious passes which seemed more legitimate so perhaps the referee was trying to compensate a little for the earlier decision.
Wolfhounds had a fifth try on 17 minutes, Wicklow winger Elmes Kinlan showing good strength not to be bundled into touch by the corner flag but popping the ball up to the supporting Tarpey as she was being turned onto her back in the in-goal area.
The team in navy and white were awarded a penalty try early in the second quarter for the visitors stopping a dominant maul by the Wolfhounds forwards illegally, with Edinburgh scrumhalf Rhea Clarke sent to the sinbin as a result.
Queen’s University medical student Clenaghan got the touchdown at the back of another catch-and-drive routine just before the half hour mark after Boles opted for the right corner from a penalty and King won the lineout.
O’Brien struck a fantastic touchline conversion as she had done with the Elmes Kinlan try and her fifth success off the tee brought up the half century for Wolfhounds after Djougang powered over on 36 minutes from her third carry in the same wave of pressure.
Clenaghan nearly got her second try from the last play of the half after peeling round from a lineout but Wolfhounds left the field for the break already home and dry, with the main interest thereafter being whether the champions could register a century of points.
They duly did so despite Alcorn ringing the changes with all eight replacements getting game-time including a welcome outing for Belfast woman Durkan who has just recently returned from rupturing her cruciate at Wolfhounds training last January.
Meanwhile, Boles’ fellow Fermanagh woman Sophie Barrett was among eight try-scorers for Clovers as they crossed the Gwalia line nine times in Hengoed, with Ireland loose forward Deirbhile Nic a Bhaird bagging a brace.
Clovers led 36-12 at the interval, so were actually outscored in the second half, but it has nonetheless been an excellent campaign for Fogarty’s women, who didn’t drop a single point on the field in seven matches against Scottish and Welsh opposition.
WOLFHOUNDS: Amy Larn (Athy RFC); Vicky Elmes Kinlan (Wicklow RFC), Aoife Dalton (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Leah Tarpey (Railway Union RFC/Leinster), Katie Corrigan (Old Belvedere RFC); Dannah O’Brien (Old Belvedere/Leinster), Molly Scuffil-McCabe (Leinster); Niamh O’Dowd (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Maebh Clenaghan (Queen’s University RFC/Cooke RFC/Ulster), Linda Djougang (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Alma Atagamen (Balbriggan RFC), Clíodhna Ní Chonchobhair (Blackrock College RFC), Brittany Hogan (Old Belvedere RFC/Ulster), Claire Boles (Railway Union RFC/Ulster) (capt), Erin King (Old Belvedere RFC).
Replacements: Kelly Burke (Mullingar RFC/Leinster), Tricia Doyle (Railway Union RFC), Sophie McAllister (Ballymena RFC), Aoife Wafer (Blackrock College RFC/Leinster), Molly Boyne (Railway Union RFC/Leinster), Jade Gaffney (Old Belvedere RFC/Leinster), Ella Durkan (Blackrock College RFC/Ulster), Lauren Farrell McCabe (Suttonians RFC/Ulster).
EDINBURGH RUGBY: Hannah Ramsay (University of Edinburgh); Cieron Bell (Loughborough Lightning), Lisa Brown (University of Edinburgh), Giselle Chicot (Watsonian FC), Lucia Scott (Gloucester-Hartpury); Sarah Denholm (Trailfinders Women) (capt), Rhea Clarke (University of Edinburgh); Alison Wilson (Heriot’s), Karis Craig (Watsonian FC), Megan Riach (Garioch), Lucy Christie (Newcastle University), Natasha Logan (University of Edinburgh), Cat Moody (University of Edinburgh), Charlotte Russell (Watsonian FC), Merryn Gunderson (Corstorphine Cougars).
Replacements: Millie Capaldi (Heriot’s), Talei Tawake (Watsonian FC), Kaylee Fraser (Corstorphine Cougars), Rowan McPherson (University of Edinburgh), Faye Sutherland (Corstorphine Cougars), Pip Benson (Corstorphine Cougars), April McKenzie (Watsonian FC), Nicole Marlow (Cardiff Metropolitan University).
Referee: Paul O’Connor (IRFU)
