By Rob Carbon
Cardiff Met head to Topsham, in Devon, to face Exeter University in the semi-finals of the BUCS Super Rugby play-offs today (Wednesday) hoping to stay on course for their first final since 2018.
Danny Milton’s men pipped local rivals Cardiff University 34-33 in another thriller to reach the last four a week ago and will head to the south west knowing that the last time the two sides clashed they came out on top 36-14 at Cyncoed.
If that was one of their most convincing performances of the season, they know it will take that and more to beat an Exeter side that were equally convincing when they won their home game at Sandy Park, 27-14.
Exeter had to fight back from 10 points down against Hartpury in their home quarter-final before running out winners 19-16. They were without Wales lock Christian Tshiunza, Wales U20 second row Dafydd Jenkins and Wales U20 hooker Ollie Burrows, but had another Welsh junior age grade star, Dan John, in their midfield.
John has been switched to full back for today, while Exeter are led by former Llandovery College pupil and Wales age grade international Olli White from the back row.
It’s @BUCSSuperRugby semi-final time
It’s @ExeterUniRFC Vs @cardiffmetrfc
It’s going to be EPIC
Up. The. Archer 🏹
(Produced by @gruffmckee) pic.twitter.com/URBYnaWeg7
— Cardiff Met Sport TV (@CMetSportTV) March 29, 2022
The star of the quarter-final win for the Archers was wing Roma Zheng, who notched two tries. His battle with Exeter’s Arthur Relton out wide could be crucial. He scored his 20th try of the season against Hartpury and was in the England U20 Grand Slam side in 2021.
“It was hard to put into words how emotional the win was over Cardiff Uni in the quarter-final. It was a hell of a game,” said Met skipper Iwan Shenton.
“We fell into the trap of playing the occasion and we can’t afford to do that again in Exeter. It was an emotional night for a number of us being our last home game in Met colours and playing in front of a crowd of 2,000.
“We are expecting a different beast in Exeter because they will be hurting from a few weeks ago when we beat them. We will go down there confident especially after coming back and winning against Cardiff Uni.
“You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t think about winning the league, but all our eyes are fixed on the Exeter fixture. It’s one game at a time.”
Double headers do not get much bigger than this 🔥
We’ll have all the action from the semi-finals at Topsham and Hollow Drift on YouTube!
Who will be heading to @SixwaysStadium to play for the #BUCSSuperRugby National Championship trophy? 🏆 pic.twitter.com/kFkzgPYWJT
— BUCS Super Rugby (@BUCSSuperRugby) March 28, 2022
Awaiting the winners of the game in Exeter in the final at Worcester Warriors’ Sixways ground on 13 April will be the winners of the clash between reigning champions Durham and Loughborough. Loughborough beat Swansea University 40-10 in the quarter-finals.
“We have had three unbelievable games against Cardiff Uni and we were very relieved to come out on top in the quarter-final. It’s going to be a really exciting semi-final in Exeter,” said Cardiff met director of rugby, Danny Milton.
“We played some of our best rugby against Exeter earlier in the month and I have no doubt they will be smarting from that and will want to hit back with a performance they can feel proud of on their home ground.
“We need to go into the game really believing we can go all the way to the final at Sixways. We had a good tactical template when we beat Exeter last time and we will look to stick to that. But I’m sure they will have done their own analysis on us and it will be a huge battle.”
Cardiff Met: Jack Silvester; Drad Denty, Dayfdd Tiueti, Will Rigg, Roma Zheng; Brad Roderick-Evans, Keian Richards; Joe Cowell, Morgan Nelson, Math Iorwerth-Scott, Dylan Bartlett, Barny Langton, Bailey Marshall-Telfer, Charles Rylands, Iwan Shenton (captain)Replacements: Tyler Olding, Tom Workman, Rhys Barrett, Dan Reed, Joe Locke, Ethan McVeigh, Ethan Morgan, Bingo Ivanisevic
You can watch the game, which kicks-off at 2.00pm on the BUCS You Tube channel from 1.35pm.
