Danny Milton’s side travel west on the back of a morale boosting win over last season’s league champions, Exeter University, on their home patch that kept them in the hunt for a home quarter-final in the play-offs.
The top eight teams meet in the knock out section and Swansea, in their debut season in the top flight of university rugby, are on course to make the grade. They are currently seventh with a nine point cushion over Bath University in eighth.
The third Welsh team in the league, Cardiff University, are currently one point clear of the relegation zone and are fighting to extend their stay for a third season. They have to meet Exeter University twice in their final four matches, starting with a daunting away trip today, and also have the return with Cardiff Met at the Arms Park.
Their other fixture fixture is at home to Hartpury. Swansea also have to face Exeter and three of their final four matches are at home, giving them the chance to stay involved into the play-offs.
Cardiff Met’s 20-10 win last week over Exeter was a dramatic turn-around from the 62-24 hammering they received in the away fixture and took them to within two points of the reigning league champions in third place.
Durham currently lead the table with 56 points and Leeds Beckett, who won the Championship final last season, are second on 51.
“The top four teams get home draws in the quarter-finals and the top two then get home semi-finals if they win. It is perhaps a bit of a stretch for us to break into the top two, but we’ll give it a go,” said Milton.
“It was a great performance against Exeter and we’d love to go all the way to the final at the Ricoh Arena. We’ve still got a number of tough games left and it will be another great occasion when we face Cardiff University at the Arms Park on 26 February.
“Having three Welsh universities in Super Rugby has been really good and local bragging rights add something extra to all the games. We were able to beat Swansea 60-10 at home, but we know it will be a difficult proposition down there.”
Milton has 72 players in his high performance unit at Cardiff Met, more than 50% of who are Welsh qualified. Alex Dombrandt and Luke Northmore have earned full time professional contracts at Harlequins after leaving university and Aaron Wainwright has made it into the Dragons and Wales teams.
“We run 10 teams on the men’s and women’s side at Cyncoed and we like to feel we offer our players a great launch pad to try to break into the professional game. At the same time they are also gaining a degree with which to equip themselves for later life,” added Milton.
“With teams playing in the Welsh Championship, BUCS Super Rugby, BUCS National 1 and the WRU Youth Cup we offer something for everyone on the men’s side. The women play in the BUCS National League.”
