Fixture

The opening minutes of this fixture certainly did not give an indication of what was to come for the Cardiff Met team. The students started brightly putting together some good continuity play and things looked very promising for the students when outside half Harri Williams gained possession from a turnover inside his 22m and saw the opportunity to produce an excellent crossfield kick to wing Brad Denty. The wing started an excellent attack, linking with flanker Jake Bond and second row Barny Langton-Cryer who galloped away and looked certain to score, only to be tackled just short of the line. Jake Bond, however, had stayed in support and was on hand to receive the scoring pass for an excellent try, converted by Bradley Roderick-Evans.

Clifton responded to this early setback and when the away team conceded a penalty it gave the home side an opportunity to set up a lineout inside the students' 22m. Although the students dealt with the initial lineout drive, Clifton saw an opportunity for centre Zak Hamid to score on the blind side of a ruck. An excellent conversion from the touchline by Brad Barnes brought the scores level at 7-7. Clifton were again able to gain a foothold inside the Cardiff Met half following indiscipline by the away team, and a combination of some enterprising rugby from the home team and poor defence from the students saw Clifton cross for a try by prop Alex Giltrow, again converted by Barnes. Clifton were now enjoying a period of superiority, with Cardiff Met struggling to slow down the flow of possession being produced by the home side and gaining very few opportunities to establish attacking platforms inside the opposition half. It was therefore very frustrating when, following a turnover penalty gained by Dafydd Tiueti at a tackle, the students did have an opportunity for a lineout inside the Clifton half, only to see that opportunity wasted by a 'not straight' at the lineout.

A harsh penalty at a scrum on their 22m line against home prop Joe Cowell, who had looked to be gaining the upper hand since entering the game as a replacement for Eliott Salt, provided the home team with the opportunity to kick to the corner for a lineout 5m from the students' line. The driving maul produced from this lineout resulted in a try for hooker Regan Herbert, again converted by Barnes to give the home side a 21-7 lead at half time.

The Cardiff Met coaches would have been looking for improvements all round and no doubt emphasised the importance of getting a good start to the second half. The students did start brightly producing some promising attacking play before disaster struck and an attempted kick through resulted in a turnover which saw home wing Alex Howman race in for a try converted by Barnes. Consecutive penalties awarded against the students allowed Clifton to gain another lineout 5m from the students' line and following a series of 'pick and go's' flanker Brad Talbot crossed for a converted try giving them a very convincing 35-7 lead.

Cardiff Met worked hard to try and get themselves back into the game but were unable to really threaten the home defence until some excellent approach work from Tyler Olding and Roma Zheng produced an opportunity for replacement outside half Sam Brown to chip over the home defence and re-gather to cross for a try near the posts. Full back Bradley Roderick-Evans converted to bring the score to 35-14.  A catastrophic error at a lineout near to the students try line saw the ball being thrown to an unmarked Clifton forward who fell over the line for a very easy score, this time converted by Alex Kilbane.  Clifton were now in a very dominant position and produced some of the best rugby in the game when a counter attack from deep inside their own half saw some fine interplay which resulted in a try for wing Bentley Halpin again converted by full back Kilbane. With the scoreline at 49-14 the game was over as a contest but the students were able to produce a try for centre Bingo Ivanisivic before the home side closed proceedings with a well worked try for Zak Hamid to give a final score of 56-21.

Whilst this was not the result or performance the students would have hoped for, it will have provided both the players and coaches with the opportunity to reflect upon the positives and areas for improvement they will have identified before they face the next in a series of challenging games ahead of the BUCS Super Rugby competition.

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