Edinburgh lost for the first time in the new Celtic Challenge Competition as their more experienced Irish opponents proved too strong over the 80 minutes. 

The capital club - who had four full internationals in their team compared to their opponents’ 12 - did score the first and last tries of the game. But the Wolfhounds dominated for a long stretch of proceedings and had the game wrapped up when they scored the fourth of their five tries minutes into the second half. 

Edinburgh coach Claire Cruikshank was pleased with her team’s willingness to keep fighting to the end, but insisted that they had a lot to learn. “It was a little bit frustrating,” she said. 

“We didn’t really manage the game that well - we didn’t hold on to the ball long enough. I thought we gave them opportunities around the breakdown by being a little bit soft. 

“They got a score quickly after half-time, which took them into a pretty comfortable lead, but we came back at the end and we definitely finished the better team. 

“So it’s mixed emotions. I’m a bit frustrated, but we came back at the end there and an extra minute or two and we hopefully could have got another one.”

Scotland cap Emma Orr opened the scoring thanks to an excellent offload from her fellow-centre Briar McNamara, who added the two points and continued to play with a pleasing balance of artistry and intelligence. But the Wolfhounds went on to take control of proceedings, and unconverted tries by Sarah Delaney, Natasja [correct with a j] Behan and Aoife Wafer gave them a 15-7 half-time lead.

Brittany Hogan got the bonus-point score a few minutes into the restart, with Dannah O’Brien converting. And then Wafer added a second before Bell and Orr touched down late on.