by Tom Pritchard
Swansea University Men’s 1st 31-18 University of South Wales Men’s 1st
Date: Wednesday 29 November 2017 (14:15)
Venue: Sketty Lane, Swansea
A strong second half performance from Swansea University saw them claim the bragging rights against close rivals University of South Wales at Sketty Lane.
USW were looking for their fifth consecutive victory in the BUCS South A League, but were unable to get possession or territory in the second period and paid the inevitable price.
The away side made a strong start and an early penalty for hands in the ruck gave them territory deep in Swansea’s half. A well-worked backline move from the resulting line-out put Sion Edwards through, and the flanker showed good speed to score the first try. The conversion was pushed wide by Foard Cooksley.
USW continued to apply the pressure as they controlled the possession and territory for much of the opening 20 minutes. The home side got their first score shortly after, when a break from a line out put their left winger in space and he sprinted home to level the scores.
USW didn’t have to wait long to get their second try, a kick to the corner set up a rolling maul, which was well controlled and eventually driven over the line by Alex Meeson at the tail. The visitors won the battle on the ground in the first half, and this inevitably allowed them to control large periods of the game, recycling quick ball and wining back possession with turnovers and errors forced by pressure at the ruck.
Ben Daniels’ men scored their third try in the 36th minute when scrum-half Jamie Hill did well to pick the ball up from a back-pedalling scrum and scampered over to score in the right corner. Again, the conversion was missed, meaning that USW held a 5-15 lead at the interval.
There was concern at the beginning of the second half when try-scorer Hill went down holding his head. After an assessment from the medic, he was deemed fit to continue.
With Swansea on the attack in USW’s 22, a high tackle in midfield gave them a chance to kick to the corner. The home side looked to drive their way over the line, but impressive maul defence won USW the turnover on their own five metre line.
Swansea’s relentless pressure eventually paid off as they spotted a gap in the defence and the replacement lock strolled to bring the home side back into the game. The successful conversion reduced the deficit to three points.
An offside offence from the home side gave Foard Cooksley the chance to extend the lead, and he duly slotted his penalty goal to give his team a six-point lead heading into the final 20 minutes.
Swansea responded by bringing on two replacements in the front row, as they looked to assert their forward dominance and find a way back into the game. USW’s Josh Haywood was replaced try scorer Meeson shortly after, following an impressive shift from the tight five forward.
The home side thought they’d scored in the left corner, but a brilliant covering tackle from Kristian Richards denied them. The home side did cross the line minutes later, as they shifted the ball wide to the right wing and dotted down in the corner to bring themselves within a point.
A tricky looking conversion was coolly slotted by the fly-half to give his side a slender one-point lead. Iestyn Lewis was brought on in place of Sam Davies to add something different to USW’s back line. Swansea went two scores ahead when their replacement prop was the beneficiary of some great work in the left corner. The conversion was successful and the home side held an eight-point lead with less than five minutes to play.
The outcome was decided when some poor tackling on the left side by USW allowed Swansea to get their bonus point try and round off an impressive comeback, having trailed by 10 points at half time. The victory means that Swansea University close the gap on USW to four points, with five games left to play in the regular season.
As for USW, their impressive run of wins comes to an end, and they will be hoping to return to winning ways when they face table-toppers University of Bristol 1st at Sardis Road next Wednesday, 6th December at 19:00.
USW Team: 1. Joe Popple, 2. Tom Geere, 3. Tom Stacey, 4. Lloyd Evans, 5. Alex Meeson, 6. Alun Lawrence, 7. Sion Edwards, 8. Gareth Jones (C); 9. Jamie Hill, 10. Foard Cooksley, 11. Jordan Evans, 12. Tom Bradley, 13. Jack Parkinson, 14. Kristian Richards, 15. Sam Davies
Substitutes: Luke Griffiths, Connor Davies, Sam Tiley, Josh Hayward; Harry Rumens, Iestyn Lewis
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