There were 13,000 fans at Principality Stadium for the last edition in 2019 before COVID struck. Cardiff made it three wins in a row with an emphatic 78-7 victory, although their women’s team were beaten 30-27
Both teams reached the knock-out stage of the BUCS Super Rugby campaign for the first time and Josh Moore’s Swansea side can point to two league wins over their big city rivals. They won 17-13 at St Helen’s in November and then triumphed 24-20 in Cardiff.
Swansea finished the league season with a flourish as they won their last six games, including a 23-17 win over Cardiff Met at Cyncoed. They were then beaten by Loughborough (40-10) in the last eight.
Cardiff also went into the quarter-finals, where they were pipped for a third time in the season by Cardiff Met in an epic contest at Cyncoed played out in front of a crowd of 2,000. Their journey ended after a 35-34 defeat, while Met were beaten by the eventual champions Exeter University in the semi-finals.
The Welsh Varsity match is part of a week-long festival of sport that began in 1997 and has grown into the largest student multi-sport event in the UK. There are 36 different sports involved.
Swansea University: George Stephens; Cam Taylor, Rory Case, Tom Florence, Oscar Stewart; Gwyn Parks, Daf Land; Martin Mulhall, Josh Moore (captain), Owen Peddle, Ben Gregory, Huw Sutton, Benji Williams, Will Barraclough, Cai Davies
Reps: Garin Lloyd, Louis Fletcher, Paula Fifita, Chris Thompson, Scott Jenkins, Harri Williams, David Armstong, Huw Thomas
Cardiff University: Felix Gilbert; Marcus Ramage (captain), Jamie Hoyes, Luke Pollock, Rhydian Williams; Ed Dunford, Josh Thomas; Connor Wood, Ben Chapman, Freddie Barnes, Ethan Phillips, Griff Evans, Greg Ramage, Gwilym Evans, Ben Hoppe
Reps: Cam Lewis, Ed Thompson, Adam Williams, George Shaw, James Roberts, Dai Jones, Cam Scott, Jake Thomas
