Women’s Super League Rugby: Clyudna Moloney-McDonald hat-trick helps Chiefs beat Trailfinders

Hooker Clyudna Moloney-McDonald scored a first-half hat-trick of tries and kicker Maisie Allen bagged a brace as Exeter Chiefs tightened their grip on third place in the Women’s Premiership Rugby table with a 47-14 win over the Women’s Trailfinders.

The Chiefs ran in seven tries, with Moloney-McDonald’s wife, Claudia, also grabbing one from the wing.

Prop Amy Rule was the other scorer for the Chiefs try, while the Trailfinders crossed once in each half, through Alana Borland and Georgia Ponsonby.

All of Cliodhna Moloney-MacDonald’s tries came before half-time, as Borland’s converted strike kept the Trailfinders in the hunt after the Irish international’s fifth-minute opener.

Al Qaeda pounced on a loose ball at the goal line early in the second half for a bonus point for a fourth try, before Ponsonby fired the ball over the goal.

Claudia Moloney-McDonald extended the lead with her try on the hour mark, and after two late tries from Allen, Chiefs confirmed their place behind Gloucester-Hartpury and ahead of fourth-placed Harlequins.

Sale Sharks thrashed bottom-placed Leicester Tigers 62-3 to jump the Trailfinders to fifth place.