Celtic Challenge Round Two review

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND - DECEMBER 30: Warriors' Ceitidh Ainsworth (no. 10) during a Celtic Challenge match between Edinburgh Rugby and Glasgow Warriors at the Hive Stadium, on December 30, 2023, in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo by Simon Wootton / SNS Group)

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

Scotland internationalist Emma Orr was one of two try scorers for Edinburgh, dotting down on her debut. Orr combined beautifully with fellow centre Briar McNamara as she burst through a hole in the defence, before offloading to the onrushing Orr to soar beneath the sticks.

Edinburgh twice came close to scoring through Fiona Davidson and Nicole Flynn, both adjudged to have not scored by the officials.

In the closing 10 minutes of the game, winger Cieron Bell managed through the Wolfhounds defence to score in the corner.

With the clock in the red, and the result decided, Edinburgh continued to attack in front 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.

Full-time: Edinburgh Rugby 17 – 27 Wolfhounds

Gwalia Lightning crossed for six tries to secure a bonus point win, two Glasgow Warriors three. Flanker Holland Boggan scored a first half try for the Warriors with Ailie Tucker crossing for a brace deep into injury time.

Speaking after the game, Head Coach Chris Laidlaw said “I’m really proud of the effort of the player group to keep fighting after a tough spell just after half-time.

“We showed that when we can get entries into the opposition 22, we are effective and can convert pressure into points. I thought there was some great attitude in our defence and we look forward to building on that over the new few weeks.”

Glasgow Warriors now face the Irish outfit Wolfhounds at home on Saturday 13 December. Laidlaw said “We know that we need to keep working hard at developing our game to continue to grow on and off the field.

“I thought our set piece functioned well today so with that platform we need to try and use that to continue applying pressure to the opposition and launch our attack.

“We will take the positives from this week and look forward to getting back to Scotstoun on Tuesday as we prepare for our first home game next weekend against a strong Wolfhounds outfit.”

Full-time: Gwalia Lightning 36 – 19 Glasgow Warriors