“There’s a lot of history at this club, but this game was the start of a new era for us. We’re really happy with the result and it’s onwards and upwards from here,” said acting skipper Liam Gadd.
“It’s been a long, hard preseason for us, but everyone put their body on the line. We are a strong knit group and we are ready for the many tough journeys we know lie ahead in the Championship.”
The students were able to contain Swansea’s power pack in the opening 40 minutes and were only two points adrift, 14-12 at the break. But Swansea turned the screw in the second half and romped to a 35-14 victory.
Their four tries included two penalty tries from scrum offences. No. 8 Matthew Davies and Liam Popham grabbed the others, while full-back Nicky Thomas kicked 15 points.The Students had a try from wing Pierre Tucker and three penalties from outside-half Geraint Llewellyn.
Swansea host Blackwood at St. Helen’s next week. The Gwent side fell to a 12-6 home defeat as RGC 1404 came down from North Wales to plunder two tries from Huw Grundy and Alex Schwarz, one of which Rhodri Carlton-Jones converted.
New comers Glynneath, last season’s Division One West and Silver Ball champions, could nto quite get the dream start they wanted on their Championship debut, but they did at least pick-up a losing bonus point in their 9-6 home defeat to Tata Steel.
Jack O’Reilly landed a penalty in each half for the home side, but three penalties between Gareth Walters and Steve Lewis did the trick for the visitors.
The other promoted team, Division One East and SWALEC Plate winners Merthyr had the boot of Steve Lang to thank for their 28-20 triumph at Llanaharan. He landed three penalties and converted two of the visitors three tries for a crucial match tally of 13 points.
Sam Edwards, Martin Luckwell and Rhys Walker crossed for the Martyrs, while Dafi Davies, Jack Davies and Nathan Huish scored tries for the Dairymen. Rhys Morgan converted one and added a penalty.
Narberth were too strong for Bridgend Athletic winning 20-10 while Tondu ran in 10 tries in their 62-0 demolition of Newbridge. Matthew Morgan grabbed a hattrick for the home side and there was also two for Gareth Lindenburg.
The game at Bargoed hinged on the sending off of Pontypool second-row Ryan Thomas seven minutes after the break for violent conduct. The home side were only 9-3 ahead at the break thanks to three Josh Prosser penalties, but they ran in five second-half tries as they fully exploited their extra man in the second half.
No. 8 Ross Coombes scored a hattrick of tries and centre Rhys Humphries and full-back Lee Pearson also crossed. Prosser added three conversions to make it 40-3 at the end.
