Ulsterwoman Sadhbh McGrath gave an impactful performance off the bench at Scotstoun
Richard Bullick
CONSIDERING how stretched Clovers have been by absenteeism throughout January, it is to the great credit of Denis Fogarty’s team that they have bounced back from the derby defeat to Irish rivals Wolfhounds with four consecutive victories in the Celtic Challenge.
Thanks to their own wins and Wolfhounds inflicting a first defeat on Gwalia Lightning since they lost to Fogarty’s charges at Donnybrook before Christmas, Clovers went into the mini-break at the start of February second in the table, six points behind the reigning champions.
Clovers face a challenging assignment this Saturday with a Valentine’s Day date at Ystrad Mynach (1pm, BBC iPlayer/TG4) against Welsh hosts Gwalia, while Wolfhounds travel to take on Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun the following day (2.00pm, TG4/Youtube).
The latest triumph for Fogarty’s women was a 38-31 away win against Glasgow Warriors, the second high-scoring game in just under a fortnight between these teams after the 57-31 Clovers victory at Ravenhill two Sundays before.
In between, Clovers hosted a Brython Thunder team they had only edged 15-12 at Cardiff Arms Park two weeks earlier and pulled away to win 29-12 at Musgrave Park where the sides were level at the interval.
Although gaffer Fogarty had made six personnel changes and a further three positional switches to the team which beat Brython in Cork to freshen things up, particularly with a six-day turnaround, the visitors began brightly at Scotstoun.
Clovers led 26-7 at the break, so had their four-try bonus-point in the bag before the end of the first half, but the win itself seemed in real jeopardy with nine minutes of the match remaining, with just seven points between the teams and the visitors down to 13 players.
With replacement winger Chisom Ugwueru already in the sinbin for a high tackle, the referee had awarded a penalty try and rightly yellow-carded Faith Oviawe for cynically dragging an opposition player down as they both chased a kick towards the Clovers line.
Ireland lock Ruth Campbell captained Clovers on her first appearance since the World Cup
However, Glasgow fumbled deep in their own 22 from the long Clovers restart and, after a typically physical carry in midfield from Alana McInerney, namesakes Sadhbh McGrath and Aoibheann McGrath were each stopped just short.
But young replacement Siofra Hession, on at outhalf for the injured Caitriona Finn, used deft footwork to score a try and she added a lovely conversion from a fair way to the right of the posts to give Clovers a 14-point buffer.
Glasgow had the consolation of picking up a second bonus-point thanks to centre Briar McNamara converting her own try with the clock red after strong surges by inspirational skipper Holland Bogan and No 8 Emily Coubrough.
Physically imposing young lock Aoibheann McGrath has emulated her fellow 19-year-old Finn by picking up two Player of the Match awards during this run of four Clovers victories, in her case for away games against Brython and Glasgow.
The big second row scored a try in either half here on an afternoon when the Irish side’s other touchdowns came from Oviawe, scrumhalf Katie Whelan, Ireland three-quarter Anna McGann and Hession.
Aoibheann McGrath was partnered in the engineroom initially by Ireland lock Ruth Campbell, captaining Clovers in her delayed first appearance since the World Cup due to a neck problem and, like Erin King for Wolfhounds, eased back in gently with a 20-minute cameo.
Ireland duo Emily Lane, who had captained Clovers throughout the first half of this Celtic Challenge campaign, and Ulsterwoman Sadhbh McGrath both took a turn on the bench after five consecutive starts, which crucially meant they were on the field for that hectic finale.
Both have been invaluable leaders for badly depleted Clovers throughout the month, but two other influential figures were watching from the stand at Scotstoun as the late drama played out on the final afternoon of January.
Player of the Match the past two weekends, Finn again pulled the strings superbly before being forced off five minutes into the second half with what appeared to be some sort of hip, thigh or groin injury which Fogarty would have hoped isn’t too serious.
Having been on the field for every minute of the Clovers campaign up until then, teenage No 8 Jemima Adams-Verling was called ashore on the hour mark as another Connacht young gun Ailish Quinn – capped by Ireland last August – made a welcome return from injury.
Quinn put herself about with real relish in the last quarter, having come on at the same time as IRFU-contracted winger Ugwueru made her first appearance since suffering a medial ligament tear playing for Munster in last August’s interpros.
Transferred from Wolfhounds earlier in this campaign, the lively Whelan caught the eye on her first start for Clovers, sniping over for a try and showing she has a more natural kicking game than the three scrumhalves who have been ahead of her in the Ireland pecking order.
Flanker Faith Oviawe scored the opening try for Clovers but was sinbinned later in the game
Aoibheann McGrath’s first try of the afternoon, when she displayed impressive power on a strong surge to the line, was converted by Finn to put Clovers 12 points up with just 10 minutes on the clock.
Whelan’s touchdown came at the start of the second quarter and the fourth and fifth tries for the visitors either side of half-time were the result of opposition passes being picked off on a day when errors proved very costly for Glasgow.
McGann’s intercept effort on 37 minutes was the perfect response from Clovers to Glasgow’s pushover try shortly before – touched down by Coubrough and converted by inside centre Millie Warren.
Clovers scored again just three minutes after the resumption, Aoibheann McGrath being put over in the left corner by Lyndsay Clarke following a big break by the latter’s centre partner McInerney from an interception 20 metres inside her own half.
That made it 31-7 but Glasgow, who scored 26 unanswered points in the last half hour of the previous Sunday’s 52-26 defeat to Wolfhounds in Cork, hit back by running in three tries without reply to put this entertaining game back in the melting-pot.
Especially with Edinburgh being beaten at home by Brython Thunder in that afternoon’s other match, Glasgow look like the best bet to join the two Irish sides and Gwalia Lightning in the inaugural Celtic Challenge top four play-offs come March.
Although beaten each time, Glasgow have shown their potency by scoring a total of 14 tries against Irish opposition in their last three outings, picking up four valuable bonus points along the way so will fancy another crack at Wolfhounds this Sunday.
Clovers ran in nine tries in their first Glasgow game in Belfast, with winger McInerney – who was switched to inside centre for the second clash – bagging a brace and touchdowns apiece from both McGraths, Finn, McGann, Whelan, Niamh Murphy and Aoife Corey.
Finn nailed six consecutive conversions that afternoon between missing her first two efforts and final one, before a return of two from five as Clovers completed the double over Brython Thunder for this season.
Perhaps unsurprisingly given that the visiting front row featured a couple of players with more than 80 Welsh caps between them, including 18-stone tighthead behemoth Sisilia Tuipulotu, Clovers struggled somewhat at scrum-time in their round five fixture.
Sniping scrumhalf Katie Whelan scored a try on her first start for Clovers (Pic: Colin Molloy)
However, with the Buncrana bulldozer Sadhbh McGrath leading the charge in the loose with two turnovers early on and some monstrous carries, Clovers were able to come out the wrong side of a set-piece battle but still win the war.
Sadhbh’s fellow Ireland prop Siobhan McCarthy and openside flanker Annakate Cournane crossed in the first half, with skipper Lane sniping over to put the hosts back in front after the break and fine tries from centre Murphy and fullback Corey sealing the bonus-point victory.
There is a prevailing narrative that the Celtic Challenge isn’t a level playing-field because the Irish sides are stacked with full internationals compared to their Welsh and Scottish counterparts but that has been far from the case for Clovers during January.
With so many frontliners missing, Clovers have fielded exceptionally callow line-ups but still found a way to scrape that narrow win in Cardiff followed by a hat-trick of bonus-point victories, which is an encouraging endorsement of the emerging generation in Irish rugby.
Many of Fogarty’s young players are putting their hands up for involvement in the inaugural Under 21 Six Nations, which will see the girls in green play their first home match as a double-header with the Ireland senior side against Italy in Galway on April 18.
There will be six more opportunities to audition for green jerseys if Clovers can make it to the Celtic Challenge’s inaugural Grand Final at the end of March, and a semi against this Saturday’s opponents Gwalia looks a likely pairing.
This weekend’s clash could go a considerable way to deciding whether that tie would take place on Irish or Welsh soil so it is an important match for Clovers and they should take confidence from claiming that worthy win in Glasgow last time out with a shuffled deck.
Fogarty’s six personnel changes saw a seasonal debut for Campbell, the return of McGann, Ella Burns and Whelan start in place of the rotated Lane and Sadhbh McGrath, Saoirse Crowe promoted at hooker and the inclusion of Connacht Player of the Year Orla Dixon.
Having got her first taste of Irish sevens action in Dubai a few weeks before Christmas, Dixon was a surprise exclusion from the Clovers squad originally announced shortly afterwards for this Celtic Challenge.
Taking over from Niamh Murphy, Dixon formed a brand new centre pairing with McInerney in one of three positional switches along with Lyndsay Clarke going the opposite direction and Oviawe reverting to blindside flanker after five starts there for Irish call-up Rosie Searle.
Searle began on the bench like Lane and Sadhbh McGrath, with winger Emily Foley, centre Murphy and teenage hooker Uillin Eilian dropping out of the matchday 23 altogether as did Lucia Linn and back-up forwards Amelia Green, Caoimhe Murphy and Aoife Grimes.
Those togged out who hadn’t been on duty against Brython in Cork the previous Sunday were McGann, Dixon, Campbell, bench hooker Aoife Fleming, Quinn, Hession and the fit-again Ugwueru.
Aoibheann McGrath bagged two tries and was named Player of the Match (Pic: Colin Molloy)
Oviawe’s sixth minute try came on the back of good orchestration from Finn and the stand-off’s deft inside pass to McCarthy paved the way for that powerful surge to the tryline by Aoibheann McGrath not long afterwards.
Finn kept varying her game with impressive maturity and ambition for one so young, while Adams-Verling was also showing why she has been earmarked for the top from an early age with her effective carrying, good work-rate and useful contribution at lineout time.
A typical snipe from Whelan midway through the half found the gap for the third Clovers try, which Finn converted as captain Campbell – replaced by Searle – settled onto the bench with a satisfactory comeback completed and much more to follow from her.
Glasgow got the pushover try on 34 minutes after a period of valiant resistance by Clovers, who quickly hit back with that seven-pointer of their own by intercept specialist McGann to wrap up their four-try bonus-point ahead of the interval.
McInerney hadn’t quite enough pace to go all the way to the line after intercepting well inside her own half but she got close, Clarke played scrumhalf and Aoibheann McGrath did well to be up in support and then use her power to get over in the corner.
It is tempting to make comparisons with a young Mick Galwey, but Clovers’ delight at going 31-7 ahead so early in the second half was quickly tempered by the loss of Finn, who hobbled back after missing the conversion.
She needed attention after kicking out on the full moments later and was replaced by Hession but Clovers continued to have the bit between their teeth, with great tackles by Clarke and Corey, a superb rip by Dixon and long touch-finder by Whelan.
Wonderful counter-rucking by Clovers after another tremendous tackle by Corey was further indication of the spirit in the visitors’ ranks, but Glasgow got a try on 52 minutes by Bogan shortly before Sadhbh McGrath replaced McCarthy with Burns switching to loosehead.
Warren’s try and conversion at the end of the third quarter made it 17-31, prompting the introduction of Quinn and Ugwueru for their first appearances of this campaign, the former packing down in the middle of the back row as a straight swap with Adams-Verling.
Whelan gave way to Lane shortly before misfortune struck Clovers, Ugwueru being yellow-carded for instinctively catching an opponent high after a speculative kick by Glasgow in their own half had taken a wicked bounce in their favour.
Despite being at a numerical disadvantage, Clovers enjoyed the better of a rather helter-skelter period of play but the ball went loose in opposition territory and a great fly-hack by New Zealand-born former soccer player McNamara yielded double dividends for Glasgow.
That was partly because of Oviawe’s rush of blood to the head which caused her to blatantly tackle the chaser rather than backing her impressive pace, resulting in a penalty try and second sin-binning for Clovers.
Those sanctions left Clovers just seven points ahead, and two players down for the next seven minutes, leaving a rejuvenated Glasgow well placed to push on for victory now with a vocal crowd behind them.
But Clovers responded superbly with a converted try, forcing a Glasgow knock-on in their own 22 after the hosts had spilled the restart backwards and managing a steady scrum with McGann packing down on the flank.
That left just five backs but McInerney smashed it up in midfield, there were punishing pick-and-go carries by both McGraths and then the ball was moved to Hession who showed nifty footwork both in stepping a defender for the try and then adding a fine conversion.
That try gave Clovers some much-needed breathing space but Glasgow kept going to the bitter end and were rewarded right at the death with that potentially very valuable second bonus-point thanks to that woman McNamara converting her own try.
Having highlighted slow starts as an issue for his side in previous outings, gaffer Fogarty half quipped that “looking at closing out the game is probably the next work-on, how we keep pressure on the opposition and don’t let them get a foothold.”
But the affable Fogarty was understandably delighted overall with a result which sent his side into the break in upbeat mode, though all eyes will be on Friday’s team announcement to see if the influential Finn is fit for the trip to Wales and who else may be available.
Clovers could do with more of their capped cavalry coming over the hill as the business end of this campaign approaches but teenagers Finn and Adams-Verling have shouldered responsibility brilliantly so far alongside Lane, Sadhbh McGrath and the under-rated Corey.
CLOVERS (v Glasgow): Aoife Corey; Lyndsay Clarke (Chisom Ugwueru, 60), Orla Dixon, Alana McInerney, Anna McGann; Caitriona Finn (Siofra Hession, 45), Katie Whelan (Emily Lane, 64); Siobhan McCarthy (Sadhbh McGrath, 55), Saoirse Crowe (Aoife Fleming, 71), Ella Burns (Orlaith Morrissey, 71), Aoibheann McGrath, Ruth Campbell (capt; Rosie Searle, 21), Faith Oviawe, Annakate Cournane, Jemima Adams-Verling (Ailish Quinn, 60).
Ireland fullback Aoife Corey has been a real rock for Clovers this season (Pic: Colin Molloy)
