On a glorious afternoon at Cyncoed, it was Championship rivals Ystrad Rhondda RFC who stood between Cardiff Met and the second round of the National Cup. The students showed their intent to play open attacking rugby right from the start when they moved the ball wide from deep inside their own half and Captain Will Gibson provided the final pass to send scrum half Ellis Bevan over for the opening try. Almost immediately, another counter attack resulted in George Gladding providing the final pass for Harrison Button to score on his 1st Team debut. Harry Johnston converted both tries successfully to give Cardiff Met the perfect start.
The next ten minutes or so was a rather scrappy affair with numerous errors from both teams. Indeed, it was poor handling out of defence by the Cardiff Met back line which resulted in a turnover leading to a try for Ystrad Rhondda by wing Kurtis Williams, converted by Liam Greening. The students responded with another attack from deep inside their own half, producing some excellent interplay between forwards and backs which resulted in Corey Lewis providing a neat inside pass to send Harry Johnston in under the posts which he also converted. The students continued to pressurise the Ystrad Rhondda defence and another try seemed certain when prop Oli Andrews burst through the defensive line. However, the prop failed to deliver the final pass to the players on his outside who looked certain to score and the opportunity was lost. Cardiff Met didn't have to wait too long for their final score of the half. Second row Tom Pearson, who had been a very influential presence throughout the half causing numerous problems for the visitor's defence with his powerful running, burst through the defensive line and offloaded neatly for replacement prop Will Hurd to go over for the try which Harry Johnston again converted. Hurd thought that he had bagged a second right on half time only to be called back for a forward pass, the students ending the half with a lead of 31-7.
Cardiff Met got the perfect start to the second half when Harry Johnston intercepted to score, again successfully converting his own try. Then, almost immediately, Ystrad Rhondda wing Kurtis Williams intercepted a pass inside his own half and showed some real pace to score his second try of the game which was well converted from the touchline by outside half Liam Greening. Cardiff Met were next on the scoreboard when hooker Corey Lewis plunged over following a successful lineout drive by the home pack. As the game moved into the final quarter, both teams introduced their replacements. Following the award of a penalty to Cardiff Met, a speculative crossfield kick by outside half Russell Bennett was well collected by wing Bradley Denty who passed inside to send George Gladding over for the try. Gladding then initiated a counter attack which resulted in replacement centre Zach Clow getting the next score. The students were now looking to attack at every opportunity and, despite some poor decision making at times, they were able to finish the game with a try by wing Bradley Denty.
A final scoreline of 62-14 sees the students progressing to the next round of the cup where they will be hoping for a home draw against one of the successful Premiership teams. Captain Will Gibson was selected as Man of the Match by Dan Buckle of Tribeca Recruitment - the Match Sponsors.
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