BY RICHARD BULLICK
CAPTAIN fantastic Claire Boles led the way with a first half hat-trick of tries as Celtic Challenge champions Wolfhounds walloped Welsh hosts Gwalia Lightning 48-17 with a dominant display at Ystrad Mynach on Saturday.
The teak-tough flanker from Fermanagh had needed treatment after being flipped in mid-air after leaping for a restart but bravely resumed and got over in the corner for her third touchdown shortly afterwards.
An Olympian last summer with the Irish sevens squad in Paris, Boles deservedly received the Player of the Match award against Gwalia and plaudits from delighted Wolfhounds head coach Neill Alcorn, whose side remain on course for back-to-back title triumphs.
“Claire was outstanding today, she really led from the front and played brilliantly,” enthused the Ulsterman after a comprehensive victory which leaves Wolfhounds’ fate in their own hands going into next weekend’s final round of fixtures.
Any victory against Edinburgh at Energia Park in Dublin on Saturday will be enough for Wolfhounds, who maintained their two-point lead in the standings over fellow Irish side Clovers after both started March by recording emphatic away wins.
Clovers kept up the pressure by beating Edinburgh 60-18 in the Scottish capital later on Saturday afternoon but any hopes that east Wales side Gwalia could tame Wolfhounds on St David’s Day had already been dashed.
The rampant visitors plundered a magnificent seven tries in the opening period to take a 41-0 interval lead against opponents who came into this match just four points behind table toppers Wolfhounds with title aspirations of their own.
Along with having home advantage, Gwalia would also have taken confidence coming into this fixture from what happened when the teams met a few weeks ago in Cork where Wolfhounds came agonisingly close to being beaten.
Trailing 21-15, the Welsh were held up over the Wolfhounds line with the clock red after a prolonged period of pressure under the posts in the quest for the converted try which would have won the game for Gwalia.
The other worry was that Wolfhounds had travelled to Hengoed without a number of frontline internationals who had featured in the Cork clash with Lightning, namely vice-captain Aoife Dalton, World Rugby’s Breakthrough Player of the Year Erin King and prop Linda Djougang.
Ever-present up until now throughout this Celtic Challenge, King has picked up two Player of the Match awards during this season’s competition, including against Gwalia, while Dalton is a real lynchpin in midfield and Djougang a hugely-experienced international.
Classy fullback Stacey Flood, so impressive in the first six rounds before being injured, is another notable loss while Ireland’s Player of the Year Aoife Wafer has been used sparingly ahead of the forthcoming Six Nations.
King’s absence at Ystrad Mynach means skipper Boles and her fellow Ulsterwoman, promising hooker Maebh Clenaghan, are now the only two Wolfhounds to have started all nine matches so far in this defence of the title won last season.
Even without Wafer and King, Alcorn could field a formidable back row of Boles and last season’s victorious captain Molly Boyne either side of Ulster’s first-choice Ireland No 8 Brittany Hogan in a line-up featuring 10 full internationals.
Ireland outhalf Dannah O’Brien returned after sitting out the away win against Edinburgh seven days earlier while her fellow international Eve Higgins, who was also rested for that game, slotted in alongside Leah Tarpey in place of Dalton.
With both Irish sides due to visit Ystrad Mynach in the final two rounds of fixtures, Gwalia fans were hoping that a double Lightning strike would be enough for their team to snatch the title but Wolfhounds had other ideas.
Alcorn’s women were on the front foot from the off and, although held up over the Gwalia line early on, play came back for a penalty which O’Brien kicked to the corner and Boles scored after a slick lineout won by impressive prospect Cliodhna Ni Chonchobhair.
Nice hands from young lock Ni Chonchobair put the powerful Tarpey away for Wolfhounds’ second try after Gwalia’s attempt to run from their own 22 broke down, with O’Brien’s first successful conversion making it 12-0 after just seven minutes.
The champions showed their ruthless streak as they kept piling on the pressure and, although Gwalia managed to hold them up again over the line, what felt like an inevitable third try came on the quarter hour.
Off a scrum wide on the left, Higgins had an initial dart and teenage international Katie Corrigan came into the line off her wing before fullback Amy Larn put the other winger Vicky Elmes-Kinlan over in the right corner.
Gwalia were being tormented by O’Brien’s accomplished left boot as well and bombarded by the powerful carrying of the Wolfhounds forwards, including Ireland props Niamh O’Dowd and Christy Haney plus the Ulster quartet of Hogan, Boles, Clenaghan and Fiona Tuite.
The bonus-point try was secured in the 26th minute, nice hands by O’Brien going left putting Higgins over for her seventh of the competition, though the centre came off soon afterwards with the leg injury for which she had received attention shortly before scoring.
Blackrock winger Anna Doyle, scorer of four tries against Brython Thunder at Belfield Bowl back in January, came on in the unfamiliar role of outside centre rather than Corrigan moving in off the wing, but the one-way traffic continued.
Boles pounced on another handling error by the hosts to scoop up possession and race in for her second try, to which O’Brien added the extras, and Corrigan squeezed over in the left corner for her side’s sixth touchdown on 38 minutes.
Both Boles and Hogan had carried hard in the lead-up before young Leinster scrumhalf Jade Gaffney, who provided a slick service after being brought back into the starting team in place of guesting Ireland regular Scuffil-McCabe, gave the scoring pass to Corrigan.
Gwalia were fortunate not to be reduced to 14 players for more than a 10-minute sinbin period when Boles landed extremely heavily on her shoulder after being recklessly flipped in mid-air as she soared to claim the restart.
Thankfully, the Irish international was able to continue and she celebrated by completing her hat-trick from the final play of the first half, the left-footed O’Brien pushing the Wolfhounds past the 40-point mark with a superb conversion from the more difficult left touchline.
Ireland tight five forwards O’Dowd and Tuite were withdrawn ahead of the second half, replaced by Tricia Doyle and Balbriggan’s teenage giant Alma Atagamen respectively, but normal service resumed straight away.
The Welsh enjoyed a temporary reprieve when poor body-positioning by Tarpey prevented her from getting the ball down over the Gwalia line, but the visitors scored their eighth try on 46 minutes, a second in the right corner for Elmes-Kinlan, this time from a pass by Boles.
O’Brien landed a superb touchline conversion for good measure but, as in rounds three and four, Wolfhounds finished on a tally of 48 points and, for a second consecutive Saturday, they were outscored in the second half.
Edinburgh finished on a tally of 48 points and, for a second consecutive Saturday, they were outscored in the second half.
Edinburgh finished by scoring 17 points without reply against Wolfhounds last time out and Gwalia Lightning emulated that here in the remainder of the match as they crossed for three tries, one of which was converted.
Alcorn emptied his bench early with Ulster utility back Lauren Farrell-McCabe and teenage Ballymena prop Sophie McAllister among those to get a run, with heroic captain Boles being given a rare break in the later stages.
Wolfhounds were held up over the line for a fourth time late on, matching the count against Gwalia in the Cork clash but both Boles and Alcorn could be content afterwards with a job well done and a win which keeps the destiny of the title in the hands of the holders.
“We were after a full 80-minute performance but, by packing a punch at the start, we were able to get a good bit done by half-time. I’m proud of the girls, and also those squad members back home who are also putting in the big shifts at training.
“I was just doing my job off the lineouts and also picking up any loose ball I could,” insisted the humble Boles when asked to reflect on her hat-trick, but Alcorn paid proper tribute to the 26-year-old and declared himself fairly satisfied with what was a comprehensive victory.
“We never look beyond the game at hand, and we came here looking for a performance first and foremost. Everybody did their jobs and the outcome took care of itself, though we were held up four times and missed some opportunities, so we’ll keep learning too,” he vowed.
Wolfhounds have now won 14 of their 16 matches under Alcorn, with the only defeat coming against Clovers early in the current campaign, and if they can complete back-to-back title triumphs, it will be a real feather in the cap of the understated Malone clubman.
WOLFHOUNDS: A Larn; V Elmes-Kinlan, E Higgins, L Tarpey, K Corrigan; D O’Brien, J Gaffney; N O’Dowd, M Clenaghan, C Haney, F Tuite, C Ni Chonchobhair, C Boles (capt), M Boyne, B Hogan. Replacements: K Burke for Clenaghan, T Doyle for O’Dowd, S McAllister for Haney, A Atagamen for Tuite, P Garvey for Boles, K Whelan for Gaffney, A Doyle for Higgins, L Farrell-McCabe for Doyle.
GWALIA LIGHTNING: J Hesketh; C Greenway, K Webster, M Anderson-Thomas, C Lewis; C Hughes, S Jones; M Davies, M Wakely, C Williams, P Jones, A Pyrs, L Terry, C Stewart, B King (capt). Replacements: M Reardon, D Hopkins, J Scoble, E Jones, L Buffery-Latham; K Bevans, F Bell, R Parry.
Referee: Will Goodwin (WRU).
Wolfhounds v Lightning action (above and below)
In the other game, Clovers head home with a bonus point after running in 10 tries against Edinburgh Rugby at Hive Stadium with Nicole Fowley named Player of the Match
