Edinburgh lose out to Wolfhounds

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND - JANUARY 06: Edinburgh players and staff at full time during a Celtic Challenge match between Edinburgh Rugby Women and Wolfhounds at Hive Stadium, on January 06, 2024, in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo by Ewan Bootman / SNS Group)

The experienced Irish outfit showed their class to come away with a 27-17 win infront of 903 fans at Hive Stadium, with the driving maul in particular causing problems for the capital club.

It was the home side that came out the blocks firing, registering a stunning score to open the scoring. Scotland internationalist Emma Orr – making her debut – combined beautifully with fellow centre Briar McNamara to score. The inside centre burst through a hole in the defence, before offloading to the onrushing Orr to dot down under the posts.

The Wolfhounds responded quickly however, with the driving maul starting to do its work. The forwards combined perfectly, with hooker Sarah Delaney applying the finishing touch. The visitors quickly made it two tries, with a period of sustained pressure eventually being finished off by winger Natasja Behan.

Edinburgh came close to hitting back, with McNamara once again breaking through, however Orr was unable to regather the pass for a carbon copy score. The wolfhounds made the error count, going up the field before scoring another maul try to finish the first half on top – back row Aoife Wafer finishing on this occasion.

The Wolfhounds started the second half in perfect fashion, with number eight Brittany Hogan scoring off the back of another successful lineout attack. The irish side put their foot down even further, with Wafer scoring from close range for her second try of the match to put the result beyond doubt.

This didn’t stop Edinburgh from giving everything they had, twice going close to scoring through Fiona Davidson and Nicole Flynn, both adjudged to have not scored by the officials.

The home side eventually got a deserved score, with Cieron Bell chanelling her inner Duhan van der Merwe to power through the Wolfhounds defence to score in the corner. With the clock in the red, and the result decided, Edinburgh continued to attack infront of a big home crowd. Emma Orr finished the game as she started it, scoring a brilliant individual score to bring the score line closer.