UWIC students on the march to Twickenham

Two teams from UWIC have safely graduated into major finals at the home of English rugby and will be looking to bring back two top British Universities trophies to Cardiff on April 25th.

First up will be the UWIC Women’s XV, who clash with Loughborough University at 12.30pm, before the Chris Davey-coached UWIC men’s team take on UWE Hartpury later in the day. The UWIC Women are the current holders of the BUSA Women’s crown, while the men haven’t had their hands on the title since 2003.

UWE Hartpury, who are coached by the former Llanelli, Bridgend, Dragons and Wales Assistant Coach Allan Lewis, reached the final losing only one of their 14 fixtures: 8-5 against an Exeter University side they then beat 28-7 in the semi-finals. UWIC also lost to Exeter, the Oxford Greyhounds and were twice beaten by Hartpury in the league stages.

“We are unique among Universities at UWIC in that we balance playing in the BUSA League with playing in the ASDA League Division 1 East in Wales,” said Davey.

“We were beaten both home and away by Hartpury in the league phase, but we had to balance the demands of both leagues at that stage. Since reaching the knock-out phase we have fielded our best possible team and made it to the final once again.

“The team is based largely on the Freshers XV that won the BUSA Plate final last year – they have made it to the final once again this season – and the plan was to win the title next season. Yet we reached Twickenham by beating Birmingham University 63-0, Newcastle University 39-12 and Northumbria University 39-13.

“It sets up a great final against Hartpury and gives us the chance to meet them a third time this season, but with our best possible team turning out for the first time.”

Davey, who was so successful as the Wales U21 coach over many years, has developed a policy of picking only those players at the university who can commit full time to playing with their fellow students. While there are a number of Welsh Regional academy players available to him, there are 22 other UWIC students who play in the Premiership and ASDA First Divisions who are not considered.

“It would be great to have the pick of everyone at the university, but that is not the case. Neither is it in our best interests when we are trying to develop talent,” said Davey.

“UWIC has always been one of the great breeding grounds for Welsh players, but this season our top 22 only has around eight Welshmen involved. We are getting a lot of interest from English born students and a lot of interest in our players from English clubs in the First Division.”

It will be the third final in four years for Hartpury to reach Twickenham and they will be hoping to lift the title for the first time against UWIC.