Former Armagh gaelic footballer Niamh Marley came in on the wing for Wolfhounds (Pic: Colin Molloy)
Richard Bullick
BADLY weakened Wolfhounds suffered their first ever defeat against non-Irish opposition in the Celtic Challenge when beaten 14-0 by Brython Thunder in Llanelli on Saturday, though the defending champions remain top of the table.
Captain fantastic Aoife Dalton and new Ireland skipper Erin King were both sorely missed by the visitors, who were without eight of their squad’s 13 internationals along with other useful players such as Robyn O’Connor, Abby Moyles, Caoimhe Molloy and Naoise Smyth.
Stand-in skipper Fiona Tuite, normally a lock or blindside flanker, was deployed in the unfamiliar role of No 8, in a back row not only without King but the two wing forwards who usually pack down either side of her in Ireland duo Claire Boles and Maeve Og O’Leary.
That absent pair bring huge work-rate and are also valuable auxiliary leaders, Olympian Boles from Fermanagh having skippered Wolfhounds to the Celtic Challenge title 12 months ago and O’Leary captained Munster to the interpro title last August.
Brython would have been delighted not to have to face Ireland scrumhalf Aoibheann Reilly, scorer of brilliant individual tries in the last two games against Gwalia and Glasgow, while capped wingers Katie Corrigan and Vicky Elmes-Kinlan weren’t part of the matchday 23.
Now in their third season since being created, the only previous occasion on which Wolfhounds had lost was on the last Saturday of 2024 when beaten by Irish rivals Clovers at Belfield Bowl which, incidentally, will host the next derby battle between them on March 7.
Chasing a hat-trick of Celtic Challenge crowns, Neill Alcorn’s back-to-back champions are still two points clear of second-placed Clovers thanks to the seven consecutive victories with which they began this latest title defence.
One silver lining is that Gwalia Lightning’s home defeat against Glasgow Warriors in Saturday’s other match on Welsh soil has actually guaranteed Wolfhounds a home semi-final with two rounds of fixtures remaining despite their own loss.
Wolfhounds are back to Wales this Saturday to take on Gwalia at Ystrad Mynach (1pm, BBC iPlayer/TG4) ahead of facing Clovers in Dublin in the last round of regular league games, but they can no longer be overhauled by Lightning in the table no matter what happens.
Of course, Wolfhounds will want to get back to winning ways and finish this first phase of the competition strongly in order to have momentum going into the play-offs as they target a place in the Celtic Challenge’s inaugural Grand Final at the end of next month.
To put what at face value was a very surprising result at Parc Y Scarlets into a statistical context, Belfast man Alcorn’s record as Wolfhounds supremo up until this had featured just one defeat and one draw, along with 22 wins, in his first 24 games at the helm.
In the first seven rounds of fixtures in the current campaign, Wolfhounds had scored 315 points to just 88 against, running in 51 tries in the process, so failing to register anything at all over the entire 80 minutes on their weekend visit to Wales was a very unfamiliar feeling.
Brython bagged two converted tries in the opening period and then held out through a scoreless second half for a famous win which triggered delirious celebrations among the home players and not just because of claiming a massive scalp.
Ulster forward Fiona Tuite captained Wolfhounds in the absence of Aoife Dalton (Pic: Colin Molloy)
Coming on the back of two wins against Edinburgh, this third consecutive victory after starting with a run of five defeats has given Brython real hope of making the competition’s inaugural top four play-offs against what would have been long odds a short time ago.
Doing the double over Edinburgh means Brython are transformed from the outfit thrashed 69-0 by Wolfhounds at Ravenhill in the middle of January and, with home advantage, they relished taking the fight to their quite understrength visitors.
Retired ex-Ireland prop Kathryn Buggy, the BBC’s co-commentator for the match, pointed to Wolfhounds resting players and suggested they had ‘under-estimated Brython a bit’, but the picture is arguably a bit more complex than that.
Given Brython’s recent revival, them having home advantage and a play-off place in their sights as well as a desire to make amends for that trouncing at Ravenhill, this writer did feel a real sense of unease when the Wolfhounds team was announced on Friday.
Despite the presence of Linda Djougang and Tuite plus the return of Stacey Flood, Eve Higgins and Dannah O’Brien, the absence of Dalton and that insatiable loose forward triumvirate rang alarm bells for me and created a real sense of jeopardy.
However, we can’t call this an ‘Icarus moment’ for Wolfhounds, and it would be unfair to describe their selection as reckless, risky, arrogant, disrespectful or smacking of hubris without knowing the full facts around availability or being fully au fait with the bigger picture.
As with the men’s game, centrally-contracted players are carefully managed, so the big guns in the Wolfhounds squad were always going to have to sit out a couple of fixtures each during this campaign.
And that is reasonable enough considering that, otherwise, a first-choice Irish international would be facing a run of 17 matches in a period of 21 weeks if their Wolfhounds or Clovers side reached the Grand Final of the newly-expanded Celtic Challenge.
Up until recently, a game against Brython might have seemed a good opportunity to rotate heavily, and we don’t know how far these things are planned in advance or the scope for flexibility in light of changing circumstances.
Scheduled rests for a few frontliners can be compounded by an extra injury or two muddying the waters – O’Leary got hurt against Glasgow – and there was something of a perfect storm at the weekend with Brython having hit form and become a more formidable proposition.
One purpose of the Celtic Challenge is to develop players and, with the Irish sides so dominant, there may be a conscious desire for them to stress-test themselves by mixing and matching a bit without sacrificing results.
Perhaps that went a little too far here, or the balance was got slightly wrong, or not enough account was taken of Brython’s big improvement, but it could also be argued Wolfhounds didn’t perform as well as should have been expected on the day, in tricky conditions.
What can be said unequivocally though is that Alcorn is one of the least arrogant and most meticulous coaches you will come across, a tough taskmaster who likes to have the hard work done, leave nothing to chance and, as he says so often, take one game at a time.
In addition to the number of frontliners missing, the scale of the changes in the team from week to week, must surely affect cohesion a bit and for the trip to Llanelli there were no fewer than 11 alterations to the starting side from Glasgow the previous Sunday.
The front row remained the same and Jade Gaffney continued in the No 9 jersey – first-choice scrumhalf Reilly had just come off the bench at Scotstoun – but elsewhere there were nine personnel changes and an additional two positional switches.
Apart from Gaffney, it was all change behind the scrum, with fullback Flood, Maggie Boylan, and former Armagh gaelic footballer Niamh Marley brought in to form the back three, a new centre pairing of Higgins and young debutant Cara Martin, and O’Brien returning at outhalf.
They replaced Amy Larn, Corrigan, Megan Burns, captain Dalton, Elmes-Kinlan and Moyles respectively, while Blackrock locks Kate Jordan and Cliodhna Ni Chonchobhair came into the pack along with flanker Aoife Corcoran for Smyth, King and O’Leary.
Ireland fullback Stacey Flood was one of five internationals in the Wolfhounds line-up (Pic: Colin Molloy)
Tuite is like Tadhg Beirne in that she tends to play lock or flanker, but the Ulster forward was deployed in the middle of the back row, with Irish-qualified Canadian Regan Casey switching across to blindside after getting her first start six days earlier in the No 7 jersey.
Forceful Connacht back five forward Poppy Garvey was an unfortunate late cry-off, replaced by the unfamiliar Usha Daly-O’Toole, from a bench which saw young Ulster hooker Maebh Clenaghan return and the two Wilson sisters covering the prop positions.
A notable absentee from the matchday squad was flame-haired Wicklow woman Molloy, an experienced, physically-imposing and versatile prop who can do a job on either side of the front row, from the start or coming off the bench.
But the absences most keenly felt were those of Dalton and King, both just 22-years-old but the only officially world-class players across the six squads in the Celtic Challenge based upon inclusion on last summer’s prestigious World Top 50 list.
Dalton is the current Ireland Player of the Year and made last season’s Six Nations Team of the Championship, while King was the 2024 World Rugby Breakthrough Award winner. Both are utterly relentless, bring such physical intensity and are real menaces to play against.
With her lean muscularity, remarkable engine and almost manic determination, the number of Olympian King’s involvements on both sides of the ball tends to be off the charts and she is a real asset at lineout time on either team’s throw.
Meanwhile, Wolfhounds skipper Dalton brings outstanding defensive organisation along with her great reads and aggressive tackling, while her low centre of gravity and physical courage make her a potent weapon at the breakdown.
The amount of ball the industrious Dalton protects at attacking rucks is easily overlooked, while her ferocious, surgical, clever clear-outs also assist her team in attack never mind the underestimated threat she can be with ball in hand as we saw away to Edinburgh especially.
Her exceptional calmness, clear leadership and good communication skills are real strengths, and she has that almost telepathic partnership with Higgins in midfield, just like King dove-tails so well with Boles and O’Leary in the back row for Wolfhounds.
So there was some apprehension about how Wolfhounds might manage at Parc Y Scarlets against a team with six forwards named in the Wales training squad for the upcoming Six Nations and some useful backs too.
Ulster hooker Maebh Clenaghan offloads to scrumhalf Jade Gaffney against Brython (Pic: Colin Molloy)
Boosted by the inclusion of Wales captain Kate Williams, who was made available by Gloucester Hartpury, Brython began brightly and Wolfhounds were glad of a great tackle by Marley just outside her own 22 early on.
Ulster skipper India Daley’s dummy throw at a lineout well inside the opposition 22 cost Wolfhounds a promising attacking platform and Brython took the lead soon afterwards with a good try on 17 minutes by Amy Williams.
After Thunder had moved the ball nicely, the fullback beat a despairing attempted ankle tap by Marley racing across from the other wing to score in the left corner, with outhalf Hanna Marshall adding the extras.
The hosts doubled their lead on 34 minutes, centre Savannah Picton-Powell taking a great line to score after pressure from a lineout, though Buggy did conclude that the absence of ‘amazing defender’ Dalton had been exposed.
Brython established the field position which led to that second try courtesy of Boylan fumbling a kick deep inside her own 22 and Casey playing the ball in an offside position, resulting in a penalty to the corner.
Marshall launched a cross-kick following the lineout, which Flood challenged well for in the air but the ball went into touch, giving Brython another throw – this time on the right – and the forwards probed briefly before Picton-Powell cut through a bit too easily.
The conversion from Marshall made it 14-0 and Wolfhounds weren’t able to make any inroads into reducing the arrears before the break, which came with the visitors having plenty to ponder.
Player of the Match Hanna Marshall converts a try for Brython against Wolfhounds (Pic: Colin Molloy)
Clenaghan came on for Casey after 48 minutes, the adaptable Daley switching from hooker to No 8, not long before Marley gave way to Olympian Larn on the wing at the same time big lock Alma Atagamen made her first appearance of the campaign in place of Jordan.
Wolfhounds were struggling to get back into the match and, although they were fortunate not to lose Clenaghan to the sinbin for a high tackle late in the third quarter, the worsening conditions didn’t help the team trying to chase the game.
Higgins had a relatively quiet game by her standards but it was a shock to see the Ireland star being brought off 16 minutes from the end with Wolfhounds 14 points down and no apparent injury issue, so you couldn’t help but wonder if that was a preordained change.
Ulster tighthead Sophie Barrett, who had been treated earlier for a finger injury, came off shortly after Higgins, meaning 18-year-old EmmaJane Wilson coming on at prop just six days after making her first Celtic Challenge appearance as replacement hooker.
Her older sister Hannah Wilson wasn’t used at all, with the durable Djougang kept on for the full 80 minutes, making this the first time Wolfhounds haven’t deployed all eight replacements in the current campaign.
Gaffney had been replaced at scrumhalf by Alex Connor late in the third quarter, with Alcorn’s last change seeing newcomer Daly-O’Toole introduced for Corcoran with six minutes remaining.
In the end, Wolfhounds didn’t score at all so Brython held out quite comfortably for a sweet win whereas this was a disappointing performance by Alcorn’s side even taking account of the depleted line-up.
It was a challenging afternoon for some of the back-up players like Martin, for whom this was a tough outing – she could have done with Dalton alongside like on her interpro debut for Leinster 18 months ago – but some of their bigger names didn’t really fire on the day either.
However, providing the unaccustomed defeat doesn’t knock confidence or take away Wolfhounds’ aura of invincibility, this west Wales wake-up call may be no bad thing as, up until now, the Celtic Challenge champions hadn’t been tested enough in this campaign.
By contrast, Clovers are battle-hardened from having to dig deep on a regular basis so the business end of the competition will be fascinating and, in particular, the very real possibility of an all-Irish final in Edinburgh on March 28.
It remains to be seen whether Wolfhounds will be able to go fully loaded from now on for the two remaining regular league games and two potential knockout ties, with only one weekend between the final and an intense Six Nations campaign featuring five matches in 36 days.
WOLFHOUNDS (v Brython Thunder): Stacey Flood; Maggie Boylan, Eve Higgins (Megan Burns, 64), Cara Martin, Niamh Marley (Amy Larn, 53); Dannah O’Brien, Jade Gaffney (Alex Connor, 56); Linda Djougang, India Daley, Sophie Barrett (EmmaJane Wilson, 66), Kate Jordan (Alma Atagamen, 53), Cliodhna Ni Chonchobhair, Regan Casey (Maebh Clenaghan, 48), Aoife Corcoran (Usha Daly-O’Toole, 74), Fiona Tuite (capt).
Captain Aoife Dalton was among the big names missing for Wolfhounds in Llanelli (Pic: Colin Molloy)
