Top marks so far for bright Students

A NEW term has brought with it a near perfect start in the National Championship for the students of Cardiff Metropolitan University.

Met made it five from five on Saturday as they won 39-27 at Tata Steel and only trail overwhelming favourites Pontypool by just one bonus point.

Dan Milton’s side also trailed Tata 21-16 at half time, but came through to bag the victory thanks to tries from Jamie Tucker, Dawid Rubasniak and James Mattin.

All three tries were converted by Russell Bennett, who also nailed six penalties. On the win, director of rugby Milton said: “What was pleasing is that we actually made 13 changes to the side to beat Ystrad Rhondda the previous week – in order to rest them up for our first BUCS Super Rugby on Wednesday.

“It looks like we’ve hopefully got a bit more squad depth this year, which is brilliant.

“We finished the game with, I think, four first years in the backline.

“Normally we can lack a bit of experience to close out games like that, so we’re chuffed to bits that the boys really stepped up.

“There’s real competition for places, which is great for us.”

Milton also said that, unlike previous years, they have placed greater emphasis on doing well in the Championship this year.

“We definitely wanted to put a big focus and priority on the Championship this year because of the increased funding at the end of the year,” he continued.

“For a club like us, staying up in the Championship is massive.

“Whereas last year we solely prioritised the BUCS, this year we’ll be doing a bit of both.