RGC remain unbeaten this year in the Swalec Championship after beating Cardiff Met.
Eirias has witnessed some impressive displays for RGC over the past 3 years, but Saturdays 37-6 win over Cardiff Met has to rank up as one, if not, the best 80 minutes of rugby from the home side.
The students had won all 3 of the games previous so it was always going to need a big effort to get the result, but I don’t think many of the supporters expected such a performance or score.
RGC put pressure on the students straight from the kick off and looked to keep the ball alive through the phases testing the Cardiff defence. The try came from winger Huw Grundy after the ball was sent wide and he went over.
Cardiff answered straight back with a penalty from Jacob Chilcott before James Lang hit a penalty to extend the Gogs lead. Another 3 points from Chilcott kept the scoreboard ticking over.
Both sides were keeping the defensive pressure on the man with the ball which meant the pace of the game was non-stop.
The students were beginning to get more possession and looked dangerous in attack, and it took a great tackle from Tiaan Loots to prevent a try scoring opportunity. The RGC centre was putting in a big defensive shift in the 1st half making a number of impressive tackles.
As the half went on the Gogs scrum was beginning to win the arm wrestle, and it was a scrum won against the put in that created another try. Loots got the ball on the half-way line before passing to Grundy who crashed over for his 2nd of the game. Lang hit the extras.
For the reaming 10 minutes of the half Cardiff Met were camped in the home-sides half, but to a man every RGC player worked tirelessly to keep the student outs. No matter what the students attempted in attack they were unable to break the defence.
As the half time whistle went RGC would have headed into the dressing room with confidence with 2 tries and the strong defensive performance.
The 2nd half began with more Cardiff Met pressure, but once again RGC answered every attacking question. All the effort and training that happened in the gym was clearly being returned on the pitch as wave after wave of attack was being repelled by the Gogs.
When it was looking like Cardiff Met would get the score, the Gogs broke through Tallis Karaitiana and Evan Yardley with Carwyn Ap Myrddin going in at the corner. Psychologically that must have been a blow for the students who had put everything into getting a try, and RGC struck another blow when Kariatiana carried the ball to give James Lang the opportunity to get the bonus point try.
The counter attacking display continues with another couple of tries from Afon Bagshaw and Carwyn Ap Myrddin, and the fact RGC created the tries from their own half and were able to run the whole pitch is a credit to the player’s fitness as well as skillset.
Looking at the 80 minutes the defensive effort of every player was extraordinary, and they nullified the creativity of Cardiff Met who had the possession but didn’t look like breaking that RGC line at any point. The tries scored today were also top drawer and players used the ball at the right times to run in 6 tries from the backline. It was a complete performance created by a cohesive team display.
Assistant Coach Josh Leach was delighted to the complete 2nd half display, as RGC beat Cardiff Met for the first time “Over the last month or 2 we have been focusing on bringing the intensity to training and this week we looked add the quality into it. Today’s performance showed that and despite a poor start we put that right in the second half with a strong defence effort and a clinical attack.
We still need to concentrate in managing the game over the 80 minutes but the boys can enjoy todays win and refocus for training as we start to build for next Saturday against Swansea which is another huge game for us”
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