By James Macken and Sam Hart
USW Seconds were hit by a rousing second half Cardiff Metropolitan comeback to fall to defeat in a match they had looked like winning at half-time.
Despite dominating the opening 40 minutes and establishing a 10-3 lead, USW ran out of steam comprehensively as the clash wore on, allowing their opponents to record what was a comfortable victory by the end.
After five minutes there was a breakthrough from Cardiff Met who took an early lead with a penalty.
USW responded with constant pressure, but struggled to covert any of it into points.
Cardiff Met showed outstanding defensive organisation to thwart numerous USW attacks. Territorially, USW were dominant with the majority of the action taking place in the Met defensive third.
The combination of pace and pressure from USW finally took its toll just after the half hour mark as flanker Lewis Davies scavenged a loose ball to score the game’s first try. A conversion from Jordan Evans established a 7-3 lead for the hosts.
And USW extended that lead to 10-3 before the interval after the Met defence infringed trying to stem another attack, Evans punishing the visitors again with three points from his boot.
For the rest of the first period the pattern continued. USW pushed Met deeper into their defensive area and really should have added to their points tally, but there was no further breakthrough before the whistle blew for the interval.
The second half started the same way as the first, with Met slotting an early penalty to narrow the deficit to 10-6.
Ten minutes later a long kick from USW landed was fielded by the Met defence and a spectacular counter-attack ended with Met’s Harvey Giles dotting down for a try.
Things looked ominous for USW moments later when the away side crossed the line again. This time the score came from a scrum, even though Met had been on the back foot at the set-piece during the first-half.
Leading 20-10 with 15 minutes remaining, Met made certain of victory with a third try as USW tired in defence.
Star Player – Dan Bennett Cardiff Metropolitan