Having beaten the 2019 Leinster Schools winners, St Michael’s College, in their opening game, Saul Hurley’s side found themselves going head-to-head with the world-renowned Springbok rugby nursey, Grey College.
Five World Cup winners and 30 South African internationals have been produced by the 167-year-old school from Bloemfontein, who went into the tournament in the Far East as one of the favourites.
They comfortably accounted for the England schools champions, Trinity, in their opening game, but ran into a much tougher challenge against the pride of Wales. CAVC led 11-7 going into the closing moments and looked on course to bag a final place against Warren Gatland’s old school, Hamilton Boys
Then they conceded a scrum penalty and another from a driving line-out in their 22. That gave Grey College the chance to kick into the corner for one last shot at glory.
They managed to drive up to and over the CAVC line, but the referee wasn’t clear on the grounding and couldn’t award a try. Instead, he ran over to his touch judge some 25 metres away to consult with him.
The touch judge claimed to have seen someone ground the ball under the pile of bodies and the try was awarded. As soon as the conversion went over the referee blew for full time.
“It was an incredibly disappointing way to lose the game, but it is what it is. We have to accept the decision of the officials,” said CAVC director of rugby, Martyn Fowler.
“Many of the coaches watching the game came up to me and were very complimentary about my team’s performance and I couldn’t be prouder of the effort they put in. They have been great ambassadors for Welsh rugby and have helped to put CAVC firmly on the global rugby map.
“Our programme is still only a few years old and few outside of Wales had heard or knew about us. They have now!
“Our set-piece was great, we scored a wonderful try wide out on the left wing by Dylan Lewis and there was nothing between the two sides. Too often we ignore the great work that goes on in the Welsh pathway system and I feel we have proved the Schools & Colleges A Licence league is very much fit for purpose.”
Only last week CAVC retained their WRU National Schools & Colleges title by beating Coleg Sir Gar with two tries in the last five minutes at Parc Y Scarlets to triumph 35-30. Now they will face Millfield in the Plate Final at the tournament, hoping to end their season on another high.
“It is another big name rugby school and another opportunity for us to prove our worth. I’ve given the players a simple equation to ponder before the game on Saturday,” explained Fowler.
“L (Life Experience) + R (Reaction) = O (Outcome) – we want a positive outcome against Millfield and I know the players will be up for another huge performance.”
