Last year’s beaten cup finalists arrived in the Welsh capital to christen the new all-weather surface at Llanrumney and found themselves on the receiving end of another inspirational performance from Luke Pollock’s team, who are now three points clear of Bath at the top.
A week on from their first competitive win over Cardiff Met in the ‘Cardiff Clash’ at the Arms Park, they went one better by downing the most consistent side in the last two tournaments. As well as claiming the full five points, they also stopped Durham from picking-up any.
“It was a great result and another good performance – I’m so pleased for all the players. They’re worked so hard for this and created a wonderful culture at the club,” said Cardiff Uni’s director of rugby, Alan Flowers.
“They were league champions once again last year and were unbeaten before they came to us. We knew how tough a challenge it was going to be, but once again the players rose to it.
“We have learned a lot from what happened to us last year, when we reached the quarter-finals and lost by a point, and this squad has learned the hard way. At full strength I think we’re a match for anyone in this league.”
That statement will be well and truly put to the test in the next two rounds when Pollock’s side host Hartpury and then head to Exeter to face the recovering champions.
There was also a first win of the season for Swansea University, who won 44-8 against bottom of the table Leeds Beckett, while Cardiff Met fell to back-to-back home defeats as they went down 23-21 in a repeat of last season’s semi-final against reigning champions Exeter.
There is only a point between the two Welsh rivals – Met won 42-30 at St Helen’s, Swansea, when they clashed in the opening round – and Swansea will get the chance to prove their worth at home next week when they entertain Loughborough.
“We got back to normal at Leeds Beckett. We played well in the first half against Cardiff Met in the first half of our opening game, but then slipped off, and we were poor at Nottingham,” said Swansea’s head coach, Hugh Gustafson.
“We went to Notts and were a bit arrogant. We thought we only had to turn up to win against the new boys, but we were very wrong.
“Things were much, much better in Leeds and we can be happy with scoring 44 points. Bath, who are currently second, only beat them 24-5 and it was a completely different type of performance to Nottingham.”
Cardiff Met couldn’t find a way to squeeze past Exeter, who arrived having lost their opening two matches, and will need to pick up their form moving forward if they are to match their final four finish last season.
