By Blake Bint
THERE was late drama at Cyncoed as Cardiff Met missed a last-gasp conversion to hand visitors USW a deserved draw.
A late pushover try drew the home side level after USW thought they’ had the game won at 34-29.
But Met fly-half Haydn Lidstone was wide with his attempt to make it a seven-pointer and USW celebrated as if it was a win.
The game was very much one of two halves, with the hosts dominating the first half and the visitors breaking away in the second.
The scoring was opened by Lidstone with a fifth minute penalty, but it was USW who claimed the opening try when hooker Jack Corkish barrelled over under the posts from close range and Liam Herdman – who was only successful at the posts twice on a real off day – converted.
Met then went on a rampage, scoring three tries in quick succession to go into half time with a 20-7 lead.
But USW came out fighting in the second half.
Two tries from Daf Rotie and Ethan Williams respectively got the away side back in the match in quick time.
At 20-17, Met were gifted a couple of penalties to stretch to a nine point lead once again and, with not long left, it looked unlikely that USW would find time to score twice.
Despite the deficit, USW refused to go down without a fight. They were right back in it when Herdman scored a brilliant try off a weaving run down the centre of the field and converted his own touchdown.
It signalled a barrage of USW attacks in the final 10 minutes.
And those attacks were rewarded when after good move the ball found it’s way to Pedro Philitoga for the right wing to finish impressively.
Yet another Met penalty levelled the score at 29, but then Philitoga, with an almost identical try, appeared to have won it for USW.
That was until the late Met intervention that made for a breathless finish to a superb spectacle.