Issue 155

Cardiff thumped at Arms Park

08th May 2007

On April 25 the men's rugby team retook the Varsity Rugby Cup from Cardiff in a thrilling day of sporting events.

In a fiercely fought game Swansea came out on top, after scoring two tries a conversion and two penalties the result was a convincing 0-18 point win. This came after a rather disappointing day for Swansea in the Varsity Shield, in which they won only five of the twenty two events up for grabs.

The mixed lacrosse team were one of the earlier successes of the day, beating their Cardiff opposition by ten goals to eight.

Another victorious team was the women's fencing, who convincingly won by 135-80, completing a good season for the girls. The other two victories came in the smaller events of sailing and women's tennis.

There were several close affairs too. The men's basketball missed out by only two point as they fought out their fixture in the Talybont Leisure centre.

The match was level at the end of the third quarter, but Cardiff just edged ahead and held on to the final whistle.

There were some disappointments on the day as well. The men's football team put out a mixture of the seconds, fifths and sevenths as the first team had an evening game that they felt was more important. This "hotch potch" team lost 3-0, which although not too bad considering the difference in standard, let down the University in the shield competition in a fixture Swansea usually triumph in.

There were also some heavy defeats on the day for some Swansea teams. The women's basketball team were leagues apart from their Cardiff counterparts and ended taking a 105-22 drubbing.

Another team that were taken apart by their opposition were the women's rugby team, who suffered an excruciating 61- 5 defeat at Llanrumney.

The women's football team were also heavily beaten 4-1, in a disappointing display. However, it was not just the women's teams that took heavy losses, the men's cricket team were on the end of a nine wicket thrashing the weekend before the main events took place.

Swansea's event has always been the rugby, and this year did not disappoint. The team looked pumped up before the game and responded well to the tremendous support in the stands from the travelling supporters in green. They started well with winger Adam Fotheringham kicking a penalty in front of the posts inside five minutes.

This lead was extended before half time, as Fotheringham again was successful with the boot, with the Swansea team going in at half time 0-6 up.

Their lead was extended just after half time with the first of two second half tries from Neil Higgins, and then in the closing stages Dan Lloyd-West. The last of the points came from the conversion of one of the tries from Fotheringham to wrap up a great evening for Swansea University.

Matt Cannon