Fixture

After what had seemed like an eternity, rugby finally returned to the Cyncoed Campus with the visit of Beddau RFC for this Championship Cup fixture.  The opening ten minutes was a rather scrappy affair with both teams making numerous errors, which was probably not unexpected after such a prolonged lay off. Beddau were the first team on the scoreboard when indiscipline from the students provided outside half Ben Griffiths with a penalty opportunity which he duly converted to give the visitors an early lead.

Cardiff Met began to settle into their game and it wasn't long before scrum half Keian Richards spotted an opportunity down the blind side of a ruck and some nice interpassing resulted in a good score for the Met 9. Outside half Sam Brown converted to put the students ahead 7-3. Beddau were reduced to 14 men when captain Jordan Goodwin received a yellow card for an act of foul play.  It wasn't long before the home side were on the scoreboard again when some good continuity provided the opportunity for second row Joel Broadhust to gallop in from 22m for a try which was again converted by Brown. Just as it looked as if the students were taking control of events Beddau responded with two quick tries by centre Adam Ashford, one of which was converted to give Beddau a rather unexpected 14-15 lead.  Play resumed and Cardiff Met regained the initiative creating pressure inside the Beddau 22m and following some great approach work by Bingo Ivanisivic, skipper Iwan Shenton crossed for a try which Sam Brown again converted to give the students a 21-15 lead at half-time.

Cardiff Met started the second half brightly and it wasn't long before replacement hooker Gabe Mead crossed for a converted try to give them a 28-15 lead. The students were now starting to produce some entertaining rugby and replacement scrum half Ethan McVeigh was next to profit with a try again converted by Sam Brown. The home side were now dominant and matters became a lot worse for Beddau when they lost their captain to a second yellow card following another act of foul play. The back three were next into action for the home team when wing Charlie Scott and full back Oliver Gibbon produced some excellent counter attacking play from deep inside their half before releasing the impressive wing, Roma Zheng, to score a fine try. Captain Iwan Shenton then scored his second try converted by Sam Brown to give the students a 47-15 lead. Beddau showed a determined spirit to the end and were rewarded with the final score of the game, a converted try which resulted in a final score of 47-22 to the home side.

The Cardiff Met coaches will have taken a number of positives from this performance and will now look ahead to the game at Clifton next week, where they will take the opportunity to assess the form of another group of players before the BUCS Super Rugby competition begins on 29th September.