By Rob Carbon
The build-up to the battle of Cardiff’s two university rugby teams at the Arms Park on Wednesday 5 October intensified as both Joe Cowell’s Cardiff Met team and Luke Pollock’s Cardiff University side got off to winning starts in the BUCS Super Rugby competition.
The Met stars had to come from behind at St Helen’s before they avenged their home defeat to Swansea University in last season’s competition, eventually triumphing 42-30 in front of a huge crowd, while Pollock’s men snatched victory at the death with a late try at Bath, winning 22-21.
It means their derby night out at the Arms Park looks set to be a thriller.
The two teams met three times last season and there were only five points between the two sides over the three games as Met came out on top 34-33 in their quarter-final clash and 27-26 and 26-23 in the two league matches.
A try after the clock had gone red gave Cardiff Uni a winning start across the Severn Bridge and had head coach Alan Flowers dancing a touchline jig to celebrate a hard-fought victory.
“It was a game in which we were in control after scoring three first-half tries and led 17-7 at the break. Then we barely saw the ball in the second half,” he said.
@surfc_official v Cardiff Met, its a bit lively. Haven’t seen @SwanseaRFC this busy for a long time pic.twitter.com/cUIAedIiuJ
— Gareth Symmons (@GarethSymmons) September 28, 2022
“Bath came back into the game and added two more tries to lead 21-17. I thought ‘here we go again’ until we turned over a ball, went through some phases and managed to work Gwilym Evans over for the match winning score in the final move of the match.”
Outside-half Ed Dunford, centre Oscar van Deventer and wing Rhydian Williams scored the first half tries before flanker Evans stole the glory at the end to capture the bonus-point as well as the win. Dunford added one conversion.
“That was a big win for Cardiff Uni,” admitted Cardiff Met director of rugby, Danny Milton.
“It means they will be coming into next week’s game on a real high.
“Swansea Uni put on a great occasion at St Helen’s and it was fantastic to play in front of such a big crowd that generated a brilliant atmosphere.
“It just reminded everyone what Super Rugby is all about and anybody coming to that game to watch university rugby for the first time would have been instantly hooked.”
Tickets are now on sale for the Arms Park clash with an increased capacity of up to 4,000 being the target for the fixture.
Full @BUCSSuperRugby results from round 1. Great to start with a W on the road 🔴⚫️ https://t.co/lrtGWYlfLx
— Cardiff Uni RFC (@CardiffUni_RFC) September 29, 2022
Milton will be hoping for a repeat of his side’s second half performance in Swansea, rather than the first next week.
“We gave away 11 penalties and two soft tries and then just put pressure on ourselves in the first-half. We got there in the end, and it was very much a 23-man effort,” said Milton.
“He’d played for the 2nd XV, for our side that plays in the Admiral Championship and in a friendly against Taunton. Now he has stepped up onto the bigger stage and it will be interesting to see how he develops.”
Ben Gregory’s Swansea side certainly took the game to their visitors and looked more than capable of repeating their famous win over them at Cyncoed last season when they led 25-19 at the break.
Scrum half Rory Morgan gave Met an early lead with a blindside break before Wales U20 flanker Gregory rounded off an interception break by Chris Thompson than was carried on by Llien Morgan.
Bernardo Nogueira added the extras to give the home side the lead and then added a couple of penalties to make it 13-5.
Rising wing star Roma Zheng then crossed for a Met try, which outside half Brad Roderick-Evans improved, to cut the gap to a single point.
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Back came Swansea with a kick and chase try from Rory Case that Nogueira converted, before lock Barny Langton broke away to score another Met try that Roderick-Evans converted.
The visitors then lost flanker Jack Wickham to a yellow card and before the break Oscar Stewart pounced for the third Swansea try to give them a handy interval lead.
Met improved their discipline, used their powerful scrum to good advantage and scored 13 unopposed points at the start of the second half to get a grip on proceedings. No 8 Jake Bond powered over for the bonus-point try and Roderick-Evans banged over another conversion and two penalties to make it 32-25.
Swansea hit back with a rolling maul try to cut the gap to two points and make things interesting again, but a fifth Met try from replacement prop David Ofori-Manteaw, and another conversion and penalty from Roderick-Evans to take his match tally up to 17 points, saw the visitors safely home.
