Head coach Hugh Gustafson is ready for another upset against their big city rivals having beaten them in Cyncoed in each of the past two seasons. Now the challenge is to repeat that at St Helen’s (6.30pm kick-off).
“It’s great to have a Welsh derby to kick-off the season. If the weather is kind to use, we’re hoping to have up to 3,000 fans at the game once again,” said Gustafson.
“We’ve got 18 of last year’s freshers coming back having been blooded in the 2022-23 campaign and we’ve picked up some very good players as well. We feel we will be stronger this season than last.
“We’ve got the Wales U20 prop Louis Fletcher, ex-Scarlets academy player Carl Rees to come in, as well as two key post-grad students in Peter Vickers and Chris Thompson. We took a lot of learnings from last season and we’re ready to push forward.
“When we played Cardiff Met last year they had one eye on the ‘Cardiff Clash’. Let’s hope it is the same this time and we can catch them out.”
It was 42-30 to the Archers on the opening day of last season and 25-23 the previous year at St Helen’s. Danny Milton’s Cardiff Met side became used to being the top dogs among the Welsh Universities, but that is no longer a given after losses to both Swansea and Cardiff University.
“The first target of the season is to be the top placed Welsh university in BUCS. We know that if we can achieve the goal, we will be well on our way to a successful season,” said Milton.
“It is great to have three Welsh teams in the tournament, and those rivalries are fantastic to have. They are top quality games, they have massive crowd appeal and there are big bragging rites to be earned.
“Cardiff Uni finished above us in the league table last season and reached the semi-finals to our quarter-final finish. We meet them in the ‘Cardiff Clash’ at the Arms Park in round two, so there is a lot to look forward to.”
Milton’s men will have Dragons academy half-backs Zak Roberts and Sam Berry in their side, while wing Roma Zheng, who has signed and played for Harlequins already this summer, is back for a final year.
Cardiff University have installed former Wales U20 and Cardiff Rugby prop Theo Bevacqua as their captain for the upcoming season, but are set to lose their director of rugby for the past five seasons, Alan Flowers, after the round one game at home to Leeds Beckett University (6.00pm kick off at Llanrumney Fields).
Aberavon defence coach Chris Davies is linking up with Wales and Cardiff Rugby second row Rory Thornton on the coaching front for the new campaign and will be hoping to go one better than last season by reaching the final.
Their new post-grad intake has seen them introduce Kenya sevens international Eddy Anya into their back division. As ever, a number of top quality players enrolled at the university won’t be able to play for the side – Cardiff RFC’s Wales U20 cap Harrison James, Newport full back Ioan Davies, Cardiff props Adam Williams and Freddie Barnes – but Wales U20 back row man Gwilym Evans will be available after walking away from the final year of his contract at Cardiff Rugby.
Cardiff University (v Leeds Beckett): Felix Gilbert; Max Ashton, Joe Blackburn, Tom Kilmartin, Eddy Anya; Nathan Evans, Aled Rees; Theo Bevacqua (captain), Toby Peach, James Pollard, Alex Salah, George Shaw, Billy Moxey, Gwilym Evans, Oliver Sterling
Reps: Lewys Williams, Toby Jacob, Sam Bixby, Seth Butler, James Roberts, Ben Suave, Oscar van Deventer, Joe Dickson
