There was added time heartbreak for Cardiff Met as they lost out on a place in the BUCS Super Rugby final at Rodney Parade in a 43-34 defeat to Hartpury. But while the men just missed out, the women’s team came up trumps with a 19-12 triumph over Hartpury to set up a final in […]
There was added time heartbreak for Cardiff Met as they lost out on a place in the BUCS Super Rugby final at Rodney Parade in a 43-34 defeat to Hartpury.
But while the men just missed out, the women’s team came up trumps with a 19-12 triumph over Hartpury to set up a final in Newport on 16 April against Loughborough University.
Despite finishing fifth overall in the league, the Cardiff Met women came on strong in the knock-out phase to win 48-15 in Edinburgh, 48-15 in the quarter-final before turning over Hartpury on their own patch to avenge previous defeats by 31-19 and 34-14 against the same side.
When the two finalists met in the league it was Cardiff Met who won 29-19 at home before going down to a narrow 13-12 defeat at Loughborough.
Former Wales outside half Elinor Snowsill is part of the coaching team that has helped to steer the side into the final and the squad boasts a number of senior Wales and age grade internationals.
Having finished sixth in the regular season league table the men’s side were forced to travel to Bath University for their quarter-final and came up with a 35-28 victory. Given they had lost twice to Bath in their league campaign – 33-5 at home and 38-26 in Bath – it was a victory against the odds that earned them a shot at the final.
Outside half Steff Crimp gave the Archers the perfect start with an early interception try and then grabbed a second to race into a 14-0 lead thanks to two conversions from full back Vikas Meijer. By the break the home side had hit back with three tries of their own to lead 19-14, but a Meijer try and conversion made it 21-19 to Cardiff Met at the start of the second half.
From there it went 21-19 to Met 26-21 to Hartpury and then 28-26 to the visitors with a try from centre Jack Stratton. Meijer then stretched the Archers’ lead to 31-26 with a penalty before Hartpury hit back with a try to tie things up at 31-31 at the end of 80 minutes.
Meijer added an extra penalty in added time, but two more tries from a home side boasting Wales U20 back row stars Evan Minto and Harry Beddall in their ranks clinched the game