Edinburgh draw play-off match

• 19 Feb 2024
• News

Edinburgh drew their final home match of the Celtic Challenge, with the Irish Wolfhounds scoring a dramatic last minute try to tie the game 26-26.

Having made the play-offs in their inaugural season, Edinburgh needed a bonus point win against the league leading Wolfhounds to put themselves in control of the title chase, however a draw means they need to rely on other results to go their way.

The match was as much of a battle as you’d expect with the two best teams in the league locking horns, with momentum see-sawing throughout an engrossing encounter.

The Wolfhounds made the early running, camping in the Edinburgh 22 before eventually crossing in the corner with the defence outnumbered.

Edinburgh’s response came almost immediately, with Biggar RFC products Sarah Denholm and Emma Orr combining perfectly for the capital’s first try of the afternoon. Fly-half Denholm played her centre through the defence with an eye through the needle flat pass, before Orr stretched her legs to round the covering defence.

After an initial burst of tries the game became locked into a battle of attack vs defence, with neither side managing to cross the line until 30 minutes into the game, when the Biggar combo struck again.

A break from vice-captain Alex Stewart got Edinburgh close to the line, before Denholm once again put Orr into a midfield gap to dive under the posts to give the home side the lead – scoring her fifth try of the tournament in the process.

The lead was short-lived, however, with the Wolfhounds pack crashing over from close range to tie the scores at half time.

Edinburgh started the second half on fire, screaming out of the blocks to take the lead. Nicole Marlow played a smart pass to Briar McNamara, who broke through the defence before offloading to Cieron Bell who had the gas to cross the whitewash. Bell also bagging her fifth try of the tournament, making her Edinburgh’s joint top-scorer alongside Orr.

The home side secured the bonus-point try shortly after, with the excellent Stewart burrowing under a ruck to put Edinburgh in a commanding position.

It looked like Edinburgh had claimed a famous win, however the Wolfhounds showed their class to come back late in the game. A try from close range gave them momentum, before scoring shortly after the restart to tie the game at the death.

While it wasn’t the result Edinburgh wanted, the team put in a battling display, going to-to-toe with the unbeaten Wolfhounds in front of 959 fans at Hive Stadium.