Gair Rhydd - Varsity Special - 10th April 2017 by Cardiff Student Media

gair rhydd

gair rhydd | freeword Cardiff â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s student weekly Varsity Special Monday 10th April 2017

Cardiff win Cup and retain Shield on home turf

2 WELSH VARSITY 2017 Varsity Editor James Lloyd Gair Rhydd Editor Maria Mellor Sport Editors Gareth Axenderrie Rich Jones Mark Wyatt Photography Credits Huw Evans Agency Contributors Ben Millar Jazz Jones Sam Saunders Murphy Cook Silvia Martelli Callum Gugacz Charmaine Thompson George Caulton Elizabett Yashneva Andrea Gaini Tom Morris Toby Holloway Tessa Harris Loralie Castle Julia Bortolotto James S. Lloyd Liam Ketcher Ezinwa Awogu Tom Butcher Sarah McKeever Adam George Annie Brooks Henry Sanders Sam Davenport Tim Erskine Tanya Harrington Alex Graham Cardiff Victories Men’s Rugby.............................Page 3 Ladies’ Lacrosse.......................Page 5 Men’s Lacrosse.........................Page 5 Cricket........................................Page 8 Golf..............................................Page 8 Athletics......................................Page 9 Netball.......................................Page 10 Ladies’ Ultimate Frisbee........Page 10 Badminton................................Page 11 Taekwondo...............................Page 11 Archery......................................Page 12 Ladies’ Volleyball.....................Page 13 Water Polo...............................Page 13 Ladies’ Hockey........................Page 14 Men’s Hockey..........................Page 14 Ladies’ Fencing.......................Page 15 Men’s Fencing.........................Page 15 Ladies’ Basketball..................Page 15 Ladies’ Squash........................Page 15 Men’s Ultimate Frisbee.........Page 15 Rifle............................................Page 15 Swansea Victories Ladies’ Rugby..............................Page 4 Men’s Football.............................Page 5 Ladies’ Tennis...............................Page 7 Men’s Tennis................................Page 7 Men’s Basketball.........................Page 7 Canoe Polo...................................Page 7 American Football.......................Page 9 Karate.............................................Page 9 Freshers’ Rugby........................Page 10 Cycling........................................Page 11 Rowing........................................Page 12 Swimming...................................Page 12 Men’s Volleyball........................Page 13 Equestrian..................................Page 13 Boxing..........................................Page 14 Sailing..........................................Page 14 IMG Football..............................Page 15 Kick-Boxing................................Page 15 Men’s Squash...........................Page 15 Triathlon.......................................Page 15 Draw Ladies’ Football............................Page 5

Cardiff make it sweet sixteen as they retain the Varsity Shield

eam Cardiff won their sixteenth successive Varsity Shield over Swansea University after a 20-20 tie saw them retain the title. Swansea opened the scoring early on Wednesday 29th March as victories in the Sailing, Cycling and Canoe Polo saw them open an early 3-0 lead over Cardiff. Swansea continued their dominance on the Saturday with victories in the Rowing and Karate sandwiched between the Athletics which saw Cardiff pick up their first point of the Shield. With two days remaining before the big event, Swansea managed to

final score: 20-20

steer themselves into a six point advantage as they ran out winners in the Boxing and Equestrian events on Monday, leaving the score at 7-1 to the green and whites. Team Cardiff had their work cut out and for a moment it looked as if Swansea would win their debut Shield as a victory in the Triathlon opened a seven-point lead with the scores at 8-1. Yet with the sun shining down on the Welsh capital, the Cardiff students came back into the competition with terrific spirit. After the day’s early defeat Cardiff went on a rampaging seven-game winning streak to tie the scores at

8-8 including heroic displays in the Archery and Golf. Results continued to flood in throughout the day and it was clear that the result was on a knife edge for either side. Losses in the American Football and Freshers’ Rugby for Cardiff put the Shield back into Swansea hands with only a handful of events left to play. All eyes then turned to the Swalec Stadium for the men’s and women’s Ultimate Frisbee and the Cricket and the hordes of red shirts were not left disappointed as Cardiff won all three events. Cardiff then won both Fencing

events whilst Swansea snatched a 1-0 victory in the Football at Cardiff Arms Park in front of a packed-out crowd. As the sun set, the masses flocked into Principality Stadium for the showpiece Rugby events. Swansea women were clinical as they ran out 18-5 victors over Cardiff but the feeling was bittersweet for the Swans as the stadium announcer revealed that with the scores locked at 20-20, Cardiff would retain the Varsity Shield. But that was not enough for Cardiff, defying all the pre-match talk Cardiff produced a masterclass to win 35-15.

A timeline of the Varsity Day 10:26am

11:14am

Women’s Lacrosse began with a bang at Sport Wales

First Cardiff win of the day, Women’s Frisbee 9-6

2:11pm

12:33pm

Superb knock from Allen, Swansea need 128 to win at the SWALEC

Swansea take the swimming 135-115

4:16pm

6:43pm

Cardiff show their support for Men’s Football at the Arms Park

Cardiff are fighting on valiantly, the score does not reflect the game

8:22pm

8:56pm

What a try by Chris Williams, catches Davies’ cross-kick and slides in

Celebrations for Cardiff inside the dressing room. FT 35-15

GAIR RHYDD SPORT 3

Cardiff XV J Mogg R Wall H Griffiths J Whittingham P Lewis J Davies O Davies N Ibister J Haines A Rees J McGrath (capt) T Bell J Viggers A Everett C Williams

Men’s Rugby storm to trophy glory

Replacements S Starks R Jenkins F Young B Egan L Waller A Hughes L Silver H Lang D Brooks A Williams

James Lloyd

“

It’s not just the 25 boys today, it’s the whole club, from the societies all the way through. Today is the result of that. Alun Wyn Davies

”

Swansea XV P Jones O Joyce R Smith D Evans T Lucas R Garrett H Williams R Richards A Dunham W Guy M Dodd C Hudd D Holder W Jones J Williams (capt) Replacements L Melotti Z Cinnamond T Harper T Haywood A Thresher E Gully P George T Read G John L John

Cardiff 35-15 Swansea

ardiff University thumped Swansea University 35-15 to win the showpiece Welsh Varsity trophy at Principality Stadium. Alun Wyn Davies’ side ran in five tries as they blew Swansea away in front of a healthy student crowd. Pat Lewis crossed before the break with a superb, individual effort, before Harry Griffiths, Louie Silver, Chris Williams and Aron Hughes all went over in the second half. It was one win apiece between the two teams in this season’s BUCS; Swansea coming out 10-8 winners in November with Cardiff thumping their rivals 43-8 in February. Nerves were clear in the early exchanges as the game began scrappy. Phil Jones had the opportunity to break the deadlock in Swansea’s advantage five minutes in, but his penalty fell way short of the target. Julian Mogg then blew a golden chance for Cardiff, but with an overlap on and Lewis outside him, the full-back opted to take it alone rath-

er than pass. But Swansea scored the first points when Rory Garrett - who secured the winning points in last season’s win - remained ice-cool with a dropgoal attempt from 35 yards. Swansea thought they had the game’s first try, but Will Jones spilled the ball on the try-line after breaking through a Williams tackle. But Cardiff marched back and made Jones pay for his calamity. Mogg wriggled his way out of trouble and found Lewis via hooker Jack Haines. The wing kicked over the top, gathered on the bounce, and dived over behind the posts with James Davies comfortably adding the extras. Jones saw a penalty attempt on the cusp of half time cannon off the uprights. After the break, Swansea began brightly. Ospreys academy starlet Jones looked clean through but was halted by a charging Mogg in the corner and minutes later Garrett skewed a penalty well wide. Again there was no mistake from

the men in red as they raced further ahead. Centre Griffiths - who scored a try in last year’s loss - battled his way over in the corner with Davies impressively kicking the conversion. And minutes later replacement scrum-half Silver added to Cardiff ’s lead, taking a quick tap and go to cross at the posts. No 8 Williams found try number four after he collected Davies’ crossfield kick before sliding over. Outside-half Davies remained perfect from the tee with the twopoints. Former Cardiff Blues centre Richard Smith battled his way over for Swansea’s only try with Jones able to split the uprights with the conversion. But flanker Hughes put the cherry on top for Cardiff with their fifth try before Swansea battled over for a last-ditch consolation. Cardiff Head of Rugby Davies revealed his joy for his players who have stuck together all season. He said: “I am pleased for the boys. It’s been a brilliant year regard-

ing the restructuring we’ve done throughout the club. “The boys had the opportunity to exercise free reign to express themselves today. “It’s not just the 25 boys today, it’s the whole club, from the societies all the way through. Today is the result of that.” Chairman and try-scorer Williams shared what the experience playing in front of thousands of supporters was like. “It was a fast game,” Williams said. “It was nice to be on the field at the Principality Stadium, it was a fast game and by the end I was blowing. The boys pulled together and we put a good score on Swansea which I’m proud of the boys for. “The fans were great, it felt really intense. We channelled that and as we built into the game, we used that intensity. We were very clinical when we got into their half, I think we scored most times we were in their half. All our skills were top notch on the night.”

“

It was nice to be on the field at the Principality Stadium, it was a fast game and by the end I was blowing. The boys pulled together and we put a good score on Swansea which I’m proud of the boys for. Chris Williams

”

4 WELSH VARSITY 2017

Women’s Rugby edged out by slick Swans

Cardiff XV M Nuala-Liston P Booth A Fleming (capt) J Benton J Coxon C Morgan A Mawhinney G Mansfield A White F Howell J Yandle E Erskine A Borthwick E Jones M Ifans

Swansea XV M Griffiths S Bailey C Keight C Burton E Hennessy R Harris (capt) J McCreery C Hope C Peters B Rickard C Hollick N John S Young R Lock L Shelton

Replacements M Danks M Ruth Ambler A Berry M Llewelyn R Foley G Harvey M Compton E Hare E Ashcroft K Davies

Replacements A Smith E Holiday B Williams E Sheppy B Mayrhofer C Dean B Cottam C Crook M Forgiarini

James Lloyd

“

Looking at the positives of it, majority of our squad are first and seconds years, we lost a lot of experienced players at the end of last season. It builds well going into 2017/18. Richard Jones

”

Cardiff 5-18 Swansea

ardiff Women’s rugby head coach Richard Jones heaped praise on his players despite their 18-5 Varsity loss to Swansea at Principality Stadium Jessica McCreery, Emma Hennessy and Lydia Shelton scored the tries for Swansea with Cardiff ’s only score coming from flanker Eve Jones. But coach Jones was proud of his team as they made history playing at the Home of Welsh rugby. He said: “The girls are very proud. We grouped together after the game, looked at the mistakes, looked at the positives, and what we can take out of tonight’s (Wednesday) game. “But it’s a tough one to take. I felt we played some very good rugby. But then we let ourselves down a little bit with mistakes that came

into the game. Looking at the positives of it, majority of our squad are first and second years, we lost a lot of experienced players at the end of last season. It builds well going into 2017/18.” Thousands of student spectators turned out to watch the historic fixture which now rivals the Oxford and Cambridge Varsity game played at Twickenham. The girls in red took victory at last year’s Welsh Varsity, running out 1918 winners at a packed Sketty Lane in Swansea. But in the last outing between the two sides, Swansea bagged a last-minute try to steal the game from Cardiff, 14-12 in a BUCS fixture. And The Greens – coached by Wales international Siwan Lillicrap – came

out of the blocks firing at the Home of Welsh rugby and raced into an early lead with full-back Megan Griffiths holding her nerve with a penalty in front of the posts. Minutes later it got better for the visitors when scrum-half McCreery slammed down from the back of a driving maul, making Welsh Varsity history in the process – the first woman to score a try at the Principality Stadium in the competition. Cardiff responded positively and could count themselves unlucky not to get one the board before the break. And Swansea made the hosts pay for missed opportunities when rapid, wing Hennessy waltzed her way through unscathed minutes prior to half-time.

A fired-up Cardiff team – guided by Richard Jones into his eighth year at the helm – got themselves on the scoreboard in the 42nd minute. Patient play from the forwards eventually led to Jones bruising her way over in the corner. Cardiff lost Jenny Benton to the sinbin for not rolling away at the ruck and Swansea capitalised on the extra player with No.8 Lydia Shelton crashing over. Claire Morgan’s inside break gave Cardiff ground and that pressure led to Courtney Keight being shown yellow for a high tackle. But Cardiff – for all their patience and possession – were downed by not finishing or making the most of their chances as Swansea held on for the victory.

“

Cardiff responded positively and could count themselves unlucky not to get one the board before the break.

”

“

Cardiff – for all their patience and possession – were downed by not finishing or making the most of their chances

”

GAIR RHYDD SPORT 5

Swansea hold on to take Men’s Football win at a packed Arms Park Toby Holloway

Cardiff.................................................0 Swansea...............................................1

ardiff were left heartbroken as a spirited display was not enough to secure Varsity victory as Swansea won 1-0 at Cardiff Arms Park. A nervous start led to Cardiff conceding an early goal, as a shot from outside the box beat the Reds’ keeper Lambert at his near post. In a game that was scrappy from the outset, Cardiff created a few half chances through their lone striker, wearing no.19, including a whipped ball from the right which was headed just over the bar. Varsity nerves were clearly having an effect on the game, with both teams finding it difficult to get the ball down and influence play. Swansea. However, did look the better side for the majority of the game, stringing a number of passes together at various points, including in one sweeping move that ended in a corner, which was then gathered safely by Cardiff keeper Lambert. For all of Swansea’s relative composure on the ball however, one Swansea defender was almost left resembling the red painted face of a Cardiff fan as his rogue back pass was cleared off the line by the Swansea keeper.

This was, unfortunately, the closest Cardiff came to netting, and but for one good bit of skill on the flank which led to a cut inside and a shot skipping past the far post from the Cardiff winger, the home team struggled to create clear cut chances. A vibrant crowd remained vocal and lively throughout what was a game which, perhaps, failed to live up to the billing, and remained cagey for the majority of the first half. The second half, however, did herald the start of a more open game, as Cardiff began to find some joy down the left wing, creating some good pressure and with it a number of half-chances. These failed to materialise into a goal, and Swansea began to take advantage of Cardiff ’s attempt to find an equaliser on the counterattack. One such instance led to Lambert being forced into a good save to keep the hosts’ hopes alive, whilst another Swansea chance saw a free header sail over the Cardiff crossbar. As time began to ran out for the home team, the Cardiff crowd remained behind them all the way and as the final whistle blew none could say that the Cardiff players did not give 100%. The reality is that they were beaten in a scrappy 1-0 game by Swansea team which perhaps showed greater footballing prowess and fully deserved their win.

Ladies’ Football ends in a thrilling stalemate Loralie Castle

Cardiff.......................................................1 Swansea....................................................1

ardiff ’s women’s football team let slip a one-goal lead as they battled out a tense 1-1 draw with Swansea at the Arms Park. Katie Davies had given the girls in red the lead on 15 minutes, but Swansea hit back 30 minutes from the end to share the spoils. Hotshot Davies also had a first-half strike disallowed for offside. Cardiff began brightly at the home of the Cardiff Blues and created a number of chances. Within the first five minutes, Cardiff thought they had the opener but Davies’ bullet header was controversially disallowed for offside. But the disappointment from the disallowed goal was quickly eliminated when Cardiff took a 1-0 lead through Davies a quarter of an hour in. That was as good as it got for the opening-half as the hosts held on to lead at the break. The second-half started with Swansea looking the more confident. However, both teams had chances and it took a strong defensive effort from both teams to keep the score 1-0.

But, something eventually had to give, and unfortunately for Cardiff, Swansea levelled. Towards the hour mark, the visitors were on the attack and a lengthy ball into the box was put in by a Swansea boot after a goal mouth scramble. Both teams had chances to find a dramatic winner, but the match finished in a 1-1 draw. Despite a courageous showing from Cardiff, Swansea held their nerve against a spirited rival to complete the victory. Individual excellence proved decisive throughout the game, but Cardiff can take pride in their team performance against an admirable Swansea side. And the ladies will look to avenge their losses by getting back to winning ways next year. In the meantime, they will have a huge encounter with Portsmouth in the BUCS play-offs to cap off their season on Wednesday, May 3. They are trailing 2-0 after a first leg defeat on the South Coast but will have high hopes of pulling back the deficit in the return fixture at Llanrumney with a chance to gain promotion to the Premier South following a fine campaign.

6 WELSH VARSITY 2017

Women’s Lacrosse slaughter hapless Swans James Lloyd

Cardiff...........................................21 Swansea...........................................1

ardiff Women’s Lacrosse brushed aside a lacklustre Swansea to win their Varsity game 21-1 on a sunny morning at Sport Wales. Maeve McKenny and Bex Jordache score five goals each as Cardiff – who beat Swansea 17-2 in last year’s event - more than cruised to victory. There was a lengthy delay to proceedings before the first draw. The goals for the match were stuck in traffic as the game – due to begin at 9:30 – eventually started at 10.

It would have been easy for Cardiff to switch off and begin slowly, but they did the exact opposite of that and ran in nine goals within the opening quarter. Fresher Phoebe Smith hit the first before Jordache and Grace Wilson added two more within minutes. Soon it was four and Swansea were chasing shadows – quite literally. Cardiff were breezing it in the sunshine in front of a vocal student crowd. Blink and you would miss a Cardiff goal. Goal number five came through a Jordache classic – an outrageous spinorama move capped off by a

+1 Men’s Lacrosse: Cardiff cruise to comfortable win

Julia Bortolotto

Cardiff....................................................12 Swansea...................................................3

his year’s Welsh Varsity marks twenty years since the first Varsity match for the Rugby Shield that was won by Cardiff for the 7th time this year. The men’s Lacrosse game was met with equal success, securing a final score of 12-3 to Cardiff. The men’s 2017 Varsity Lacrosse match was more intense and action packed than the scores might suggest. The pressure to follow the brilliant win by the Cardiff women in the women’s Lacrosse match, who played just before the men, added a heightened sense of tensions between both teams from the start. The first face-off at 11:47am gave Cardiff instant possession of the ball, which almost always was the case at every centre draw throughout the match. In only four minutes into the game Swansea (Player N◦ 13) scored the first goal. Yet, by the end of the first quarter Cardiff gained the lead, scoring four goals by 12:06am. Cardiff proceeded to maintain this strong lead, making

the halftime score 8-1 to Cardiff. Despite this clear lead, the game was not without its excitements. Yellow flags were given frequently, players sent off for around thirty seconds to a minute in suspensions, and the second quarter even contained a fight between a Cardiff attack player and a Swansea defence player, that was resolved with a Cardiff attack side clear. The coaches, Daniel Thomas (Cardiff ) and Dean Popperwell (Swansea), had the constant and impressive task to release and recall players, continuously changing strategy to adapt to the evolving game. Swansea secured another two goals in the second half, stealing one in in the last three minutes. Nonetheless, Cardiff succeeded a clear home win of 12-3 and celebrated accordingly with champagne and even a streaker. It also deserves to mention the avid support from both side’s spectators, with chants and cheers heard throughout the match. This marks Cardiff’s 5th reign as the men’s Lacrosse Varsity winners, raising highly competitive expectations for next year.

storming strike. More goals came and before the end of the quarter there was time for a special effort from Wales international McKenny who ran it from one end to the other and finished off with ease. After the mini-break Cardiff hit a drab patch. A whole 30 seconds without scoring. Shambles. But it was worth the wait as Sophie Thorbek scored a wonderful team effort. Alice Petheram started it, finding goalkeeper Katie Crisp who tossed long to Jordache. The skipper found Shanti Kang who teed up Thorbek for the score. The hosts led 11-0 at half-time

and after the break it appeared that Cardiff took their foot off the pedal. McKenny had made it 12-0, but Swansea marched up the other end and sneaked a goal. Cue the World Cup style celebrations. Bit awkward given that seconds later Laura Paelles-Clark made it 13-1 and then McKenny sent a Swansea player back up the M4 with a bit of bishbashbosh. Cardiff found their mojo and struck in goal after goal after goal. Jordache added a couple and McKenny put the cherry on top – Quade Cooper goose-stepping her way through bringing up goal number 21. After the game, captains Jordache and Ella Fairlie expressed their delight. Jordache said: “The girls are super happy, we wanted to have another big win this year following the last two. “We are in a league above Swansea in BUCS, they did play well, they gave us a good run. It is always fun to play them as it is a bit of a grudge match between us.” Fairlie added: “The girls played so well and after our Big BUCS final we just wanted to keep performing, keep progressing to the best of our ability and we managed to showcase that last Wednesday. “Bex had an absolute blinder as always, Phoebe Smith and Katie Foster as well, we subbed our goalie [Sophie Thorbek] into attack as well and she scored a goal. Everyone played so well, we just gelled and enjoyed the game.”

GAIR RHYDD SPORT 7

Swansea slam their way to both Tennis wins Liam Ketcher & James S. Lloyd

Cardiff Men......................................L Swansea Men...................................W

Cardiff Ladies..................................L Swansea Ladies...............................W

ardiff ’s Men’s Tennis served a hard competition against their Swansea opponents last week at the Cardiff Lawn Tennis Club. However, it’s Swansea’s Men’s Tennis team that took the victory at the Welsh Varsity this year. Similarly, back in 2016, this year

the Men’s Doubles met defeat in both their pairs matches. Although both Cardiff duo’s played to a high standard against their opposition, they were 2-0 down at the end of the doubles section. Only going on to win one singles match and losing both others. Giving Swansea a 5-1 victory at the end of the day. The double’s this year proved to be a tough one for the Cardiff team, with both pairs loosing out at the win at tie break. The first pair lost 5-7, 6-3 and then 10-1 at tie break.

With the other pair loosing 6-4, 1-6 and 7-5 at the tie breaker. The only victory of the day for Cardiff, came during the singles, winning both sets 6-3, 6-4. A tough match for Cardiff player Sam Tullett, but he managed to stay cool under pressure from the gruelling Swansea support. Needless to say the home support put Swansea’s Carl Grossey under intense pressure also, making it a tough game for both players. Although this was Cardiff ’s only win, it was a close call during the final singles of the day winning one set 7-5 and a loss in the other 7-6 taking it to a tie break where unfortunately Swansea took the final set 8-6. All singles players from both sides showed outstanding talent with incredibly high standard throughout the day, in result of a full day of playing this caused Cardiff ’s Archie Walker to retire during his third set because of cramp, just after winning his second. It’s been a tough season for Cardiff Men’s coming close to relegation at the end of the season but winning when need to secure their place. They’ve been mostly unlucky by picking up a few injuries throughout the season. The story at Varsity this year for sure is unlucky, with Cardiff putting up a good fight throughout the day but Swansea proving too strong to be able to take the win this time.

As the sun shone over Castle Courts it was Swansea that started the assault in ladies’ tennis. Both girls doubles pair struggled to find get in the swing and both girls pairs were broken early in the first set. An early finish to the Girls 2nd pair loosing 6-1 6-1, left the 1’s fighting an uphill battle. A strong come back in the second set meant like one of many games that day was to be settled in a match tie break to 10 points. A valiant effort left the both girls doubles pair loosing, with the 1st pair loosing 7-10 in the tie break, to finish up 2-6, 6-3 (7-10mtb). With the singles left to play and the Cardiff supporters diluted with swans, it was now or never for the girls team. A glimmer of hope was short lived as No. 2, Anna Rolfe took the first set and the match comfortably 6-4 6-1. This, however, wasn’t enough as more wins clocked up by the in form visitors winning all 3 of the remaining singles games, another close game 3-6 6-8, left Katy Birova narrowly losing out in another match tie break. That concluded a disappointing day for the girl’s tennis team with a 5-1 defeat. All in all both sides contributed to some stunning rallies and in the words of Archie Walker, “tennis was the real winner”.

Men’s Basketball come up short Ezinwa Awogu

Cardiff..............................................44 Swansea............................................57

asketball, held in the Sport Wales indoor main hall, began with Swansea grasping an early lead, giving the visitors a 6-3 lead within the first 15 minutes. The atmosphere was incredible as Cardiff and Swansea supporters chanted encouragement for their teams and attempted to drown their opponents out. The venue was practically full with equal amounts of Cardiff and Swansea supporters. The game continued to build intensity as Swansea extended their lead to 3 – 9 within a matter of minutes. Cardiff, wary of allowing the game to get away from them, harnessed the

encouragement from the stands and began to close the gap. The rallying was short lived however, as Swansea extended their lead and took a score of 35 – 23 into half-time. With a Swansea victory becoming a formality, many Cardiff fans left out of frustration. With their side in the ascendancy, the Swansea supporters were louder than ever. Despite a solid fourth quarter from a spirited home side, Swansea retained their lead and eventually won the game with a score of 44 – 57. It was a disappointing result for Cardiff, who gave their all but ultimately did not quite have enough to hold on for victory against their rivals, who also edged a victory in their BUCS fixture in February.

Swans paddle past Cardiff in tense Canoe Polo affair

Tessa Harris

Cardiff.................................................1 Swansea..............................................2

ardiff and Swansea Canoe Polo teams are relatively evenly matched, meaning that Varsity is hotly contested between our 3 teams; A, Ladies and Freshers. The first game was the A game, and the previous meeting between teams had seen Cardiff take the win by golden goal. The Varsity game was just as intense, and the 5 Cardiff players on the pitch put up a tough fight against a strong Swansea team. Each goal scored was followed by another

from the opposing team, and although Cardiff had possession most of the time, we couldn’t translate that into goals. In the closing minutes Swansea scored their third goal, and we couldn’t bring it back before the whistle went, leaving us 2 – 3 down, and relying on the Ladies and Freshers to win. Ladies played next, with a team lacking our usual goalie, but gaining another player. We went into the game knowing it would be a tough match, but quickly scored the first goal. For most of the match our goals were equalled by theirs, much like the A team, and although possession was more equal we played a

cleaner and faster game than Swansea, allowing us to score crucial goals. Although we lacked awareness at times, we were the stronger team overall and scored the winning goal in the last few minutes, winning 5 – 4. The final game was the Freshers game, where only canoe polo freshers and 2 B team members could play. The Swansea players had more experience than our team, with some of us having only ever played in a handful of games. After Swansea won the ball from the sprint, a miraculous steal saw a one-man attack from Cardiff, before we quickly lost possession and fell into defence. With some

luck and a lot of determination, we managed to score 2 goals, leaving us at 2 all in the second half. The last few minutes of play saw considerable carnage from Cardiff, with 4 swims, leaving only 3 players on the pitch at times. This saw Swansea score the winning goal and win 3 - 2, but given the relative experience of the Cardiff Freshers it was an impressive performance. Overall, Swansea clinched the victory with 2 wins and only 1 loss, however, for mainly inexperienced teams we held our ground and show promise for future matches with Swansea in all divisions.

+1 +1

8 WELSH VARSITY 2017

Swansea bowled over for fifth straight year as Cardiff claim Cricket win Tom Butcher

Cardiff.............................................127/4 Swansea....................................97 all out

+1 Callum Gugacz

ollowing Swansea’s decision to bowl first, the crowd at the Swalec Stadium were in high spirits with a big turnout from the home contingent. The red army were on top form all day and acted like a twelfth man. Cardiff captain Wood opened with Guy Harper. The infamous vegan activist was dismissed early for just four, caught swinging across the line. Harry Allen joined Wood at the crease and the pair battled hard for a priceless partnership of 40 before the captain was dismissed for a knock of 25 off 22 balls. Allen went on to score one of the best knocks Varsity cricket has witnessed. Aided by an invaluable contribution from Ludlow (20), Allen steadied the ship through the middle overs and accelerated the innings superbly with two huge sixes over mid-wicket. Finishing on 67 not out, from just 55 balls, the contribution proved to be a match winning knock. Swansea, who had never won a varsity cricket match before, actually had a sniff as they began their innings. Things took a turn for the worse early however, as the visitors’ opening batsman was run out on the 1st ball of the innings.

A superb bit of fielding from Feroz Baig, showed he could obviously not handle the occasion, and silenced the travelling support who had showed poor sportsmanship throughout Cardiff ’s innings. Todd Wilcock went on to bowl three boring but essential overs, finishing with figures of 0-12. Not bad for a part timer! Andy Gorvin went on to open with the new ball, and was followed by Sam Sadra who bowled very well and was unlucky to finish wicketless. The game was evenly balanced with Swansea on 30-1. That was until Connor Whetstone bowled a superb spell, picking up two wickets and handing Cardiff the initiative. Allen once again stole the show and picked up six wickets. He does owe Wood a thank you however. The wicketkeeper took two stumpings out of nowhere, having previously missed one off Baig. Allen’s performance was the standout of the day, his first innings total and bowling masterclass proving the classy difference between the two sides. Swansea, who bottled it from ball one, finished 30 runs short after being bowled out chasing Cardiff ’s total. The victory makes it five in a row for Cardiff University Cricket Club, and prolongs their perfect record over their Varsity rival.

Golf end 15 years of pain with final hole drama

Cardiff..........................................................W Swansea........................................................L

n the outskirts of Cardiff away from the centre-piece action of the day, Cardiff University Golf Team left victorious after thrilling duel between two Welsh rivals. Cardiff University came into the fixture as underdogs having failed to beat Swansea University on each of the past fifteen occasions. This statistic counted for nothing on the morning of the match though as ten members of a ferociously determined Cardiff side met at Radyr Golf Club supported by a morning sun and a sporadic set of spectators. As the day went on the fans started to pour in and so did the putts. The teams set off at split teetimes with Dan “The King” King and Benjamin “Money” Goldsmith leading off from the tenth hole whilst on the other side of the course big Aussie Saxon Norgard and his French counterpart Georges Niell set off from hole one. However, the Swansea team needed no time to settle into the foreign surroundings starting where they left off last year and racing into an early lead against team ‘Rest of the World’. Although the two representing Cardiff improved. This early setback would not be recovered. One Swansea golf-

er won on the Fourteenth rushing back to the clubhouse to celebrate his personal triumph and another point was collected by the visitor’s one hole later. Similarly, Cardiff team members Sam Geraint Jones and Claire Tuttle both gave valiant efforts in their matches but struggled against two Swansea players with handicaps of scratch losing 4 & 3 and 5 & 4 respectively. The script seemed to be written for another Swansea victory. But there was a sting in the Cardiff tail. Early starters Ben and Dan became early winners clawing back two points for Cardiff. Swiftly following in this fashion Bethan Morris delivered a thumping 5&4 victory to a presumably lonely swan and Cardiff Captain Isabel Marin duly swept up the points in a tense encounter climaxing on the seventeenth green with a concession from her rival. The scores were level and the final two matches had reached the eighteenth - all square. The pressure was palpable and the players were feeling it. Cardiff ’s chief point scorer with a record that would strike fear into Poulter: Charles Wilson was faltering. He had reached the green in four after a wild drive and a duff chip and still had 40 feet left for his bogey. His playing competitor meanwhile caught too much ground

with his pitch into the green sending his shot into the ditch in front of the green in true spiethenian fashion. Nevertheless, he was still in the match after his fifth shot rested perilously on the edge of the green 10 feet away from the pin above a slope that would have ended his campaign. In the other match Nathan Fawcitt faced with the same cross green chip saw his ball fall the other side of the slope and off the back of the green. However, with an up and down which seemed to pay no regard to his past misfortune Nathan carded a bogey to set the scores

at 5-4 in Cardiff ’s favour. Cardiff needed one point to win outright and Swansea needed one point to retain the trophy and with one point up for grabs it all rested on the final match. After a final hole with ebbs and flows enough to make you seasick Charles Wilson stood over a 7 foot putt to end 15 years of disappointment. Centre-cup and victory. Mr Wilson, soon to be knighted sir Wilson, celebrated with a fist-pump and a toothy grin in the direction of the row of red which lined the banks of the eighteenth green.

GAIR RHYDD SPORT 9

Titans win comfortably in American Football

Rich Jones

Cardiff....................................................6 Swansea..................................................40

ardiff Cobras saw their season reach a disappointing climax as they slumped to a 40-6 defeat against Swansea Titans at Welsh Varsity. The Cobras were well beaten by their Premiership opposition on what was a tough day to cap off an excellent campaign. Sean Patrick Cook’s side made a solid start, but when Swansea opened the

scoring midway through the first quarter it kick-started a period from which they could never recover. By the time the first half drew to a close, Swansea had opened up a 26-0 lead to all but end the game as a contest. Cardiff did respond with Scott Higgins and Jak Canham making spectacular catches before Higgins hauled in a touchdown in the third quarter. But it was ultimately too little too late, and Swansea responded with two more scores in the fourth quarter to secure a crushing win.

There were plenty of encouraging signs for Cardiff, who put together some positives periods of play but were made to pay for costly mistakes against a clincal Titans side. Head coach Cook believes the game gives them something to aim for as they target promotion next season. “Swansea are a good team,” Cook said. “They’re in the Premiership for a reason and they’ve got a lot of athletes on their sideline. “We didn’t really come out firing in the first half, and against a team with

that calibre of players you can’t afford to do that. “We stepped things up a bit in the second half, we scored a touchdown and had some big plays but Swansea were just a better team on the day. “We’ll use this as a yardstick for next year. We know that if we can come out next year and compete with Swansea we’ll deserve to be in the Premiership. “We’re going for promotion next year, that’s the main aim of the club, and we’ve measured ourselves to see where we are.”

Cardiff earn Athletics win in Swansea

Sarah McKeever

Cardiff....................................................7 Swansea...................................................1

ardiff University Athletics Club returned to Swansea, ready win back the Welsh Varsity title it lost in 2016. A strong team of athletes and supporters travelled to their rivals to compete on Swansea’s home turf and after placing behind our rivals in the recent South West Championships, CUAC were determined to not let that happen again. The day consisted of a mixture of

track and field events, and some new events inspired by the recent Nitro Games competition in Australia. The field events saw Cardiff dominate; with Sam Adams easily winning both the long jump and triple jump. Whilst in the shot Put, Eleni Zembashi threw the furthest distance of the day, beating both the men and women’s field! Cardiff also took first place in the men’s and women’s 4x100m and 4x400m relay against tough competition form Swansea! These relays highlighted the excellent talent

CUAC has across all the track disciplines. The most exciting event of the day was the elimination mile, an event inspired from the Nitro Games. This saw two athletes eliminated each lap, requiring speed, stamina and tactical racing. In the men’s, Cardiff finished second and third and in the women’s, it was first and second for Megan McBrien and Abigail Howarth, who showed great sportsmanship finishing the race by crossing the line together!

The day was a great success, both on and off the track for CUAC. A number of athletes gained new personal bests in a great competition. Athletics to Welsh Varsity in 2016, and after another successful year this time around it looks sure to stay on the calendar for the foreseeable future. The result was Cardiff domination, with CUAC not only beating their local rivals 7-1, but being the first side in Team Cardiff to win their Varsity and earn their first point in the Shield.

Swans down Cardiff in Y Plas Karate showdown Sam Saunders

Cardiff................................................23 Swansea.................................................40

ardiff hosted Swansea at Y Plas in this year’s karate Varsity event, humorously dubbed ‘karasity’ by many of the Cardiff competitors Swansea travelled up the M4 seeking to retain the karate shield, which their team won in last year’s provisional varsity event. Cardiff won the first event in men’s junior, and got two second places in ladies’ junior and men’s senior but this advantage was cancelled out by a Swansea first-sec-

ond-third in ladies’ senior, as well as winning the men’s senior and ladies junior kata events. At the halfway stage in the day, things looked bleak for Cardiff ’s hopes of winning, as they were heavily behind. However, the team were confident of turning things around in the afternoon kumite events. The first event, men’s junior, was won by Cardiff, with Alvin Szeto taking first and Martin Übler taking third, whilst Swansea clinched second. Cardiff followed this with second and third placed finishes in the ladies’ junior and

senior respectively, whilst Swansea won the junior’s and secured a one-two finish in the senior event. A dominant display by Cardiff in the men’s senior kumite produced a second and third place but this was overshadowed by an injury to Charalambos The men’s team kumite was probably the best event of the day, with real quality on show from both sides and a nail biting finish to match. Going into the final fight, Cardiff and Swansea were level on two fights won apiece and, with thirty seconds to go, Lappas gained his third and final

fault, meaning he would have been disqualified for a fourth. A tense finale was promised, but a Cardiff victory was met with a huge cheer from the home support. Despite the effort from Cardiff, Swansea retained the shield but it was a great competition with well-fought displays on both sides. India James, the Swansea captain, praised the team events as the ‘highlights of the day,’ and Dan Schmeising, the Cardiff karate president was proud to be included in varsity, but was quick to state future ambitions, saying, ‘we’ll get them [Swansea] next year.’

+1 +1 +1

10 WELSH VARSITY 2017

Freshers’ Rugby narrowly miss out Adam George

Cardiff.......................................................10 Swansea.....................................................13

+1 Annie Brooks

+1 Ezinwa Awogu

ardiff Freshers rugby team suffered a tight, 13-10 loss to their rivals Swansea on Wednesday in front of a raucous Arms Park crowd. There was a large, student audience for the game at the home of the Cardiff Blues, seemingly undeterred by the early kick-off. The sun was shining and fans were treated to a good, competitive game of rugby between two young sides. Swansea came out of the blocks the firing, hustling and hounding the hosts into early errors. This paid off when the visitors were awarded a penalty for off-

side deep inside the Cardiff half. The Swansea outside-half made no mistake and slotted the kick between the posts. The Swansea pack were energetic and quick to the breakdown, forcing turnovers and disrupting Cardiff’s flow. Swansea doubled their lead on the 15-minute mark with another penalty converted by their 10. The home side responded well and had a chance to cut the deficit with a relatively simple penalty opportunity. However, the big occasion got to the Cardiff’s Conor Graney, who saw his kick go wide of the mark. Cardiff dominated possession for most of the first half but the Swansea defence was

strong, with George Mears, the home wing being held up just before the half time whistle. The second half started much the same as the first half had ended with the hosts camped in the Swansea 22. They were rewarded another penalty after just two minutes and this time Reid made no mistake, cutting the Swansea lead to just 3 points. Cardiff were finally able to convert this pressure into points with some quick thinking from scrum-half Owen Evans who darted over. The resulting conversion was successful and Cardiff went four points ahead. However, this lead proved to be short-lived as Swansea replied almost

instantly. A catch and drive from the line out, followed by some quick hands across the back line led to the Swansea 14 going over in the corner. Despite the difficult angle the Swansea 10 was able to continue his perfect record. Cardiff didn’t give up and spent most of the final quarter knocking on the door. However the Swansea continued to defend phenomenally, and despite their 10 seeing yellow late on, they were able to hold on for the win. There were ugly scenes after the full time whistle with Swansea fans invading the pitch and celebrating with flares. One Swansea fan was escorted out of the stadium by stewards.

Euphoric scenes as Netball turn tide

Cardiff....................................................49 Swansea..................................................32

ardiff University stormed to a 49- 32 victory to take the lead for the Varsity Cup. Going into the match, Cardiff were the clear favourites with a big home crowd, big expectations meant the team were keen to take the win after dominating for the past seven years. The netball supporters chanted loud and the team reacted to the chanting bringing the team to a great victory. The whistle blew and Cardiff had the first centre, the ball taken straight to the goal and Sarah Llewleyn scored the first goal of the match. Swansea put up a good fight in the first quarter, with the match more equal than expected and little change between centre passes however Catherine Chadwick took some clean interceptions edging Cardiff into the lead with the first quarter finishing 8- 11. No changes were made at quartertime and Cardiff came back keen to increase their lead. The hall nearly full by this point, with both teams supporters chanting loud. The whistle went again, this time the two sisters on court, Katie and Sarah working well together to score a quick goal. Both feeding well to each other in the shooting circle. On Swansea’s centre pass, Katie Llewlyn took a clean intercept to increase the pressure on Swansea and the turn-overs

continued throughout the second quarter with Swansea making forced errors allowing Cardiff to increase their lead, finishing the first half 2519. After increasing the lead in the second quarter, the second half looked promising. Two freshers came on and made their debut, with both teams bringing on some players from the bench. Sarah Llewlyn again, the fresher who plays for Wales playing well, scoring goal after goal. Swansea continued putting the pressure on with good defence but the shooters were getting the ball and scoring with ease for the home side. The turnovers came more frequently and the team’s quick defence from Becky Campbell and Katherine Chadwick down court with a big home cheer finished the quarter, 38- 25. The final quarter saw some more changes made, the club captain Catt Henderson came on, making her Varsity debut alongside a few other players . Defence making more turnovers, Swansea continued to put up a strong fight until the very end but Cardiff were ultimately too strong. A final impressive performance by Cardiff secured them a victory with the final whistle at 49- 32. The Cardiff supporters ran on to court to chant and celebrate the victory as their season came to a perfect conclusion.

Cardiff take back Women’s Ultimate Frisbee Cardiff....................................................10 Swansea...................................................5

t Swalec Stadium, Swansea and Cardiff Ultimate Frisbee Ladies gathered for one of Wednesday’s earliest varsity matches on. Cardiff started slow with Swansea scoring the game’s first points, but the Cardiff ladies gained confidence as more Cardiff supporters began to swell in the surrounding stands. Cardiff took the game to Swansea during the first half and ended it 8 – 2 ahead. Although Swansea began to

catch up during the second half, the home side remained in the lead for the remainder of the game, recording a staggering 10 - 5 victory. Beckie, a team member of the Cardiff Ladies spoke to Gair Rhydd at the end of the match. “Varsity was great, it was my last one after four years of university. Both teams played amazingly, but it’s wonderful that we ended on a win”. Cardiff ’s captain Niehm added, “Swansea beat us last year and it’s my last game with Cardiff as well so it’s fantastic that we won. It’s been quite an emotional day.”

GAIR RHYDD SPORT 11

Cardiff shuttle into Badminton success Tom Morris

Cardiff Mens..........................................7 Swamsea Mens......................................1 Cardiff Ladies........................................8 Swansea Ladies......................................0

match at Talybont seemed a little out of the way for Varsity, where most of the events were happening at the city centre. On my way to the notorious freshers’ breeding grounds, I met Haan Xi, a second year from Malaysia. She was very relaxed and not at all nervous about the game, where she’d been selected as one of just six girls to play against Swansea, despite only joining the Cardiff team this year. At Talybont, one of the first things noticeable was the lack of alcohol vetting. Cardiffians cracked open cans and Swansea fans brought bottles, as the players warmed up by playing against their doubles partners. I spoke to Isaac, the Cardiff club manager, who explained that Cardiff’s black and white kit was new this year, yet still a contrast against Swansea’s dark green. Quite a lot of fans turned out for the matches, which I thought might be an issue as I’d thought of badminton as a comparatively quiet sport. However, Isaac was happy to see them: quiet during the rallies then raucous cheering at a lull helps players no end. I also spoke to Amy, captain of the second team, who said she didn’t mind

not being in the competition as she expected there to be a lot of pressure on the first team. The plan was to have games of men’s singles, men’s doubles, the same for women and then mixed doubles with one man and one woman on each side. However, as the matches ended up lasting two hours altogether, the mixed matches were eventually dropped. The fans were all fairly relaxed as it turns out. I even spoke to one Varsity super fan, a Swansea lifer, who having graduated now works for the university but still gets to Varsity every year. It was fairly clear about an hour in that Cardiff’s womens team, featuring an international level Bulgarian player, were unstoppable, and the men weren’t too shabby either. I sat by some Swansea fans, who chanted on their friend with an altered edition of “Come on Eileen”the player in question fought well but ultimately couldn’t stop the machine that Cardiff’s womens team had become. I have nothing but the utmost respect for the players, who all fought extremely hard for their small victories, building up to 21 points a game, then to 3 games in a set, and for the Cardiff’s women’s team eventually the full 8. They all looked exhausted and well up for a drink afterwards. I spoke to some players who had never played at Varsity before. Cardiff ’s Lee ZH said that he had “fully enjoyed” his first experience.

Taekwondo team takes an easy win Elizabett Yashneva

Cardiff ...................................................26 Swansea...................................................5

eam Cardiff ’s Taekwondo outfit put Swansea to the sword to run out 26-5 victors. Cardiff were out to defend their title against the Swans having beaten their Green & White rivals 20.5-7.5 in last year’s battle. In fact, Cardiff have a seven year grip on the Taekwondo honours since its introduction to Welsh Varsity in 2010. The two teams met up bright and early at 10am in the Sport Wales Dojo. All the competitors from both

teams, ranging from yellow belts to black belts, performed fantastic strong patterns. From the start Cardiff gained a quick lead. They had success in 10 out of 10 rounds of individual patterns and all three team patterns, leaving Swansea a mountain to climb if they were to stop the seven-year Varsity rot. Sparring was exciting for the whole crowd to watch. Swansea managed to steal two points, but CUTKD won 8/10 fights. A couple of the Swansea team got minor injuries (nothing serious) - the Cardiff

fighters were just on fire. Finally, the power competition, both team broke the boards and got four points each. Overall, CUTKD remained unbeatable for the seventh year running. A feat which they are very proud about. “We have been Varsity champions since the very beginning when Taekwondo has joined the event,” the team said with delight. “We are very proud of this and hope to keep it going.” It has been an excellent year for the club to date. The team was

crowned ITF British Student Champions for the fourth year in a row on March 4. And added to that, the Taekwondo club scooped a second place finish at the English Open in Guildford on March 19. Those sterling performances did not go unnoticed within Cardiff ’s Athletic Union. For the first week of March Philippa Bothwell stormed her way to being named Athlete of the Week. And fellow member Ibraheem Al-Affan won that accolade in November.

Swansea outpace Cardiff in Cycling

Ben Millar & Jazz Jones

Cardiff.......................................................29 Swansea.....................................................44

t was a wet, rainy Wednesday afternoon at Maindy Velodrome for the annual Varsity clash between Cardiff and Swansea Cycling team. We were aware of the strength and depth of Swansea’s cycling team thanks to previous Varsity events and racing the team multiple times across South Wales this season already. Despite this, the boys had put the hard work and training in and were ready for battle. Points from each event contributed to the total score at the end of the day to crown the Varsity Cycling Champions. The first event was the Team Pursuit. Team B were unlucky to miss out on the win against Swansea B. Cardiff’s Team A however, consisting of Mens Captain

Ben Millar, Ollie Blagden, Jake Wilkinson-Filmer and Joe Locket brought home the first gold medal of the day winning the Team Pursuit. Defending Varsity Kilo champion Geoff Smart narrowly missed out on retaining the title settling for second place. In the Individual Pursuit, there were some strong performances from the Cardiff boys with Milar taking home a convincing win for Cardiff (2.25). Swansea sneaked a second place (2.29.07) just ahead of our own and Ollie Blagden in 3rd (2.29.13). There was also a sense of déjà vu with Joe Lockett picking up another 3rd place in the Elimination Race. With two events to go, it was still all to play for. Firstly the Points Race, which consisted of 25 laps with a sprint lap every 5 laps. It was here when Swansea’s true strength in depth showed with

relentless attacks one after the other. Finally though, a successful breakaway, including our own Ollie Blagden and two Swansea Riders, did stick and stayed away for the rest of the race. Ollie was able to bring home the win for Cardiff, however with so many Swansea riders within the top 10 of that race, Swansea now had the advantage. The final event, the scratch race, was a much more team affair with all the Cardiff boys putting in some great attacks matching the Swansea riders every pedal revolution. Late into the race Fratesi of Swansea made a late break managing to bring home the win for Swansea and Blagden coming second for Cardiff. Despite strong performances from Alfie Read, Geoff and Ben in this race, Swansea again made up a large part of the top 10, sweeping up most of the points on

offer. Much to our disappointment Swansea are still yet to bring a female team to the Varsity event and therefore the superb performances from our ladies team did not count towards the overall scores of the event. Ladies captain Jade won overall, however strong performance by Gwynon Williams in the points and scratch races made the competition a very exciting one. So unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be for Cardiff this year despite the heroic efforts from the whole team. We do however have to take our hats off to Swansea who put on a great show. Watch this space though, good things to come from this team. We’ll be back with vengeance next year when our girls points will count and our mens team will dominate.

+1 +1

12 WELSH VARSITY 2017

Swansea reverse 12 years of hurt in Rowing Sam Davenport

Cardiff.......................................................2 Swansea ....................................................3

here was a paradigm shift in Welsh University Rowing this year. Cardiff did not win the Welsh Varsity Boat Race title, it was claimed by Swansea who won three out of the five races leaving Cardiff trailing with only two victories. This is obviously a very disappointing result for the Rowing Club, but it is fantastic to see that Swansea are able to challenge us properly for the first time. The day was started with the Novice Women’s race, this is for girls who have only been rowing since September. Swansea won the coin toss and chose the Ely Station of the river. Both crews had good starts and were neck and neck for the first 500 metres, Swansea then managed to pull out a lead of a boat length and a half around the in-

side of their long corner. The Cardiff crew put in a valiant push but sadly it was no successful with the Swansea crew winning by a boat length. The Novice men were next, Swansea again won the toss and elected the same side. Our boys started well and managed to hold the much larger Swansea crew for the first 600 metres of the race before the power of the larger men, combined with the inside corner cause them to open up a large lead. Despite some great pushes from the Cardiff Crew they were not able to come back on the Swansea Crew eventually losing by 2 lengths. Cardiff won the alumni race across a 500 metre sprint. The Senior Women retained their title, they are now undefeated in 12 years. This was a thrilling race, with Swansea going hard out the blocks. The Senior Women held them until the Swansea boat tired and they were

able to move out in front and maintain a lead of a length and a half. Cardiff took their second victory of the day. In the Senior Men’s race, Swansea won the toss for the fourth time and elected to choose the Ely side. Swansea hit it hard off the start and gained a 2 seat

lead over the Cardiff crew, they then stretched this out to a length and a half around their bend. The Cardiff crew put in an epic push and reduced this lead but sadly it was too little too late and the Swansea Crew won by a three quarter of a length.

Cardiff hit target with Archery win

Henry Sanders

Cardiff..........................................................6 Swansea.......................................................5

rchery has only been an event at varsity for three years, since the Cardiff Archery Club’s inception. With an older and bigger club, Swansea have more often than not shot better in BUCs events. Nevertheless, Cardiff University Archery Club has a reputation of bringing their best to Varsity every year, and this year was no exception. It was a tense affair throughout as Swansea fought hard to topple the home side, the score neck and neck from first to final arrow. Swansea took an early lead by winning the male and female compound despite valiant efforts from Cardiff’s Danny Sahlstrom and Rebecca Clark. Cardiff didn’t allow the visitors to extend their lead however as Cardiff recurve archers Tim Bruxton and Lauren Wareham won

teams shot simultaneously as volleyball players began to fill the hall behind us anxiously as they wanted to begin their own game. Clark, Wareham and Rickard shot on the female team and Sahlstrom, Bruxton and Majer shot for the men. It was the closest of contests but the ladies secured a Cardiff win, all three of them outshooting Swansea and giving

the home side the point they needed to retain the title and bragging rights. For a small club that often struggles to find somewhere to shoot, we had once again beaten Swansea back to the dark part of Wales they call home. As one member of the club said: “If Swansea Archery Club have 200 archers, how come they didn’t bring any good ones?”

Swimming: Swansea make a splash

Cardiff.....................................................106

George Swansea..................................................136 Caulton

their male and female categories. With four events down and the score level at 2-2, there was plenty of action still to come. Barebow archers Iain Majer and Hannah Rickard followed next. Majer lost his male barebow match but Rickard won the female barebow. Finally, longbow archers Isaac Ridgley and Sarah Vaughan finished off the single events with a male win and a female loss. With the match ebbing and flowing, the score was still tied going into the team matches. Three events remained and the atmosphere and banter between the two teams threatened to boil over. Lauren Wareham, Isaac Ridgley and Tim Bruxton represented Cardiff in the mixed recurve. It was the tightest of affairs, but Cardiff managed to edge out in front, securing another point and placing us ahead at 5-4. It all came down to the last two events, the male and female CRB (Compound/Recurve/Barebow) teams. Both

aking place in the heart of Cardiff bay, the atmosphere at the Cardiff International Pool for the swimming events was amazing. Expecting limited amounts of spectators from Swansea, both teams had a good amount of support, despite the pool being located on the borders of the Welsh capital. The total score was 133-115 to Swansea with teams competing in freestyle relays, front crawl, back crawl, breast stroke and butterfly. In conversation with the Captains of the Cardiff University Swimming team, Emilie James and Sam Gaskins, they told us that the team were generally really happy with how they swam, despite coming in second place. “There were multiple heats where we dominated Swansea coming in 1st and 2nd way ahead of their swimmers. We

knew it’d be a really tight competition this year as our women’s team has been performing really well at the BUCS competitions so far. Unfortunately, we were just pushed out of the win in the final cannon relay race, that’s usually the best hyped event.” There was much discussion at the event as to whether Swansea can enter their ‘best’ swimmers, due to some of them being Olympic level: “Only Swansea’s social squad are allowed to compete. But quite a few of the people in the social squad have only just dropped down from their high performance squad. It would be unfair to let them compete as they have the facilities and resources to train so much more than us - they swim 9/10 times a week whereas we only have 3 hours of pool time. Without the same amount of pool time it’s always a struggle to be able to compete against them.” Training as normal up to the run of

Varsity, the team, whilst gutted about their loss, were still happy with their performance. Special shout out to the

guys who took part in the belly-flop competition, it looked painful to say the least.

GAIR RHYDD SPORT 13

Share of the spoils in Volleyball

Tim Erskine

Cardiff Men ...........................................0 Swansea Men.........................................3

Cardiff Ladies.......................................3 Swansea Ladies................................... 2

oming into the Women’s volleyball match both teams were neck and neck on BUCS league points. Previous encounters this year had been incredibly close and wildly competitive, sparks flying every time the teams have met this year, Varsity was absolutely no exception. The first set was a tense encounter, with neither team wanting to blink first with Cardiff pulling through to win 25 - 21. The second set started poorly, with Swansea racing to a lead which, despite Cardiff ’s best efforts was unassailable with Swansea winning 25 - 20. In the third set Cardiff really turned on the afterburners, playing incredible volleyball to win 25 – 14, however, Swansea hit back in the fourth, winning the very tight set 25 – 21. With the disappointment of losing the 4th and with the momentum apparently behind Swansea, Cardiff had to turn it

on in the final set, and turn it on they did, finally pulling through to win 15 -13 to jubilant and emotional celebrations. The Men’s match saw a Cardiff team that had never lost a Varsity match play a much improved Swansea team

on incredible form, without a loss this year in their BUCS league. The first set started incredibly closely, however, as the set went on, Swansea started to pull away, winning the first set. This seemed to shake the Cardiff team as Swansea managed to stretch to an ear-

ly lead in the second set, a point from which, despite their best efforts, Cardiff were unable to recover and lost the 2nd. With Cardiff demoralised and not playing their best volleyball and Swansea rampant, Cardiff slipped to a disappointing 3 – 0 defeat.

Cardiff do the double in Water Polo

Ben Millar & Jazz Jones

Cardiff Men .........................................22 Swansea Men.........................................5

Cardiff Ladies.....................................14 Swansea Ladies................................... 6

fter the unlucky loss of the Swimming team, the Water Polo team brightened up the day at Cardiff International Pool as both men and women’s teams smashed Swansea. Contrary to every prediction, the first quarter showed Swansea’s vast improvements since last year. Despite

the slow start, Cardiff still managed to end the first quarter leading 6-1, and after Captain Greig’s lecture in the break, the team returned to the water more determined and concentrated and finishing the half 13-2 ahead. After the break, Cardiff began to turn the screw, especially when Rudi Polster, Cardiff ’s Team Junior, scored a fabulous header, not the norm in water polo. Cardiff ended the final quarter in the ascendancy, scoring at will. A 22-5 final score reflected Cardiff ’s supremacy in a game in which Swansea’s men never really stood a

chance. Cardiff ’s women followed, and started the game very well, winning the race for the ball and scoring their first goal almost immediately. Unlike the mens’ game, the girls start really strong in attack scoring eight goals, but suffered a bit more in defence where they allowed Swansea’s number eight to score three beautiful goals. The second quarter was void of action, ending 2-1, taking the half time score to 10-4 for Cardiff University. The break once again re-energised

the home side, and returned to the water scoring four goals and closing out the third with a score of 14-6. The last quarter was filled with injuries for Swansea University, losing two of their players in the final five minutes of the game and forcing the referees to call a preature end to proceedings. The stellar performances of both the men’s and the women’s teams caps off the season on a positive note, highlighting the great ability of one of the most successful clubs at Cardiff University.

+1 +1 +1

Swansea edge Equestrian despite skittish Seren Murphy Cook

Cardiff.............................................................253 Swansea .........................................................251

espite not bringing home a win, Cardiff Equestrian Club put on a good show at Varsity, despite losing by two points. The closely fought battle saw Team Cardiff attain a strong set of results, with Beth Mansfield bringing home the individual Varsity champion title, whilst Emily Peebles and Megan Allmand came in 4th and 5th place, respectively. Each team consisted of eight riders, split into four teams of four, who went on to compete against one another on eight horses. The dressage phase saw riders from Cardiff and Swansea each riding one of four horses with the aim of getting the highest score on that horse. Mansfield not only scored best on her horse, but received the highest score overall in the dressage phase, setting her up for the individual win. Despite a sterling effort from the home team, Swansea pulled into the lead with Cardiff’s overall score being 31 penalty points higher. Cardiff made a smooth start, but the day was not plain sailing for either university team. Horses are unpredictable animals who

do not always want to play fair, and one horse aptly demonstrated this. Seren, one of the four horses used in the show jumping phase of the competition, took a dislike to all four of her riders, resulting in five falls (two of which were from Cardiff’s Hannah Boughton). Falling off results in automatic elimination from the phase, yet because all four riders fell off, they all had to compete against each other on another horse. Once again, both teams had a faller, however with one clear round each, the competition drew to a close with smiles all round. Despite initially falling behind, the Cardiff riders rallied for the show jumping phase, in which their score was 29 penalty points lower than Swansea. Although they put in a brilliant performance for the second phase, it was unfortunately not enough to clinch the win, meaning Team Cardiff lost by only two points. Regardless of the result and the fallers both teams had a brilliant day enjoying the sunshine and an intense competition. The equestrian club were a credit to Team Cardiff, with a huge turnout of members whether riding, helping or supporting, resulting in a smoothly run day, if a little eventful!

14 WELSH VARSITY 2017

Swansea land early blow in Boxing

Silvia Martelli

Cardiff.........................................................2 Swansea.......................................................3

ardiff University Amateur Boxing Club came up short against Swansea at a packed Y Plas last Monday night. The crowd was initially warmed up by seven non-varsity matches, including Cardiff University’s Ellis Cummings, Dan Barratt, Alistair Babbington and Alex Kunklenko, before a best of three Varsity competition followed. The first saw Cardiff’s Lewis Tran beaten by Jingdon Liu, in a tight encounter, cheered on by the thunderous crowd. Seconds before starting, in his red gloves and gumshield, Tran looked up at the sky with a hand on his heart: Varsity really is the epitome of univer-

swinging his own hooks. However, he was frequently corned by Bradley, who unloaded heavy shots to the head of the Cardiff boxer. McFerran was forced to take several standing counts as the referee repeatedly checked for signs of damage. The third round was by far the most intense, with both boxers battling for every second of it. Although McFerran’s brilliant final jabs inflated the partisan Cardiff crowd’s hopes of winning, Bradley’s clean punches awarded him multiple points with the judges. Cardiff Law student Jordan Daruvalla beat Swansea’s Jeff Bermas in the last bout. Daruvalla, who was competing in his final university match, showed off his fantastic technique, a studied use of head movement and

rapid footwork. The competitors kicked off with great combinations of heavy punches spaced out by faints and teasing, light jabs. Daruvalla worked the opponent to the corner repeatedly, using body shots and long series of jabs and hooks. In the last round, an exhausted Daruvalla took on some heavy shots. Despite keeping it up until the final bell ring, Bermas’ occasional poor defense and dropping hands determined his fate. It was an outstanding victory for Daruvalla who sent the Cardiff crowd home with a spring in their step. It was the tightest of Varsity boxing competitions overall, that saw Swansea celebrate with an exulting visiting crowd, covered in victorious champagne.

Sailing: Swans glide to victory at Cardiff Bay

Henry SandersWright

+1 Alex Graham

Cardiff.....................................................L Swansea..................................................W

ailing Varsity 2017 was tense. Previous to the battle on the water, both clubs had fought to set a date for the event. With tempers already high and the teams more evenly matched than the last few years, the atmosphere was tense as we met at Cardiff Bay Yacht Club. The sky threatened rain and it was freezing with huge gusts sweeping through. In team racing, two teams of six in three boats race each other

for a winning combination; to win, your places have to add up to fewer than ten. Swansea clearly didn’t trust us to run the event and posted members of their other teams on our committee and jury boats to check up on us! For Varsity we race for the best of nine and by the time we got on the water tension was very high. Swansea took the first race in a 1, 2, 5 and we took the next in a 1, 2, 6. What we all very quickly realised was that when the two teams racing in our boats are evenly matched, the bias in the boats is obvious. Our

three blue boats consistently overtook the red ones on the first beat and ended up 1 and 2 in most races. This bias was tackled by switching boats every two races after the first race. Cardiff won the third race in the blue boats, placing 1, 2, 5. By race four the rain kicked in and we were had both won two. Unfortunately a fit of temper and stubbornness gave Cardiff a disqualification in the fifth race with Swansea winning the race and giving them a one-race lead. Cardiff brought it back for the sixth race making it an even 3-3. We took

the seventh race in a convincing 1, 2, 4. By this point we realised this could go on and on and with the boat bias end in an unfair result. So we raced the last two races on points, swapping boats in between. Swansea won the first one by scoring nine. To win overall Cardiff had to win the second race by scoring under nine. We won it, but scored ten points. This gave us a total of 21 points to Swansea’s 20. Despite their win, our team communication was brilliant and it was some of the best sailing we’ve done against Swansea all year.

Double success for Hockey

Cardiff Men ...........................................5 Swansea Men.........................................3

Cardiff Ladies.......................................6 Swansea Ladies....................................1

sity sports. As soon as the first round kicked off, the very agile Liu got on top of his opponent with a series of quick jabs to the face. Thanks to great footwork and feints, Tran managed to defend well during the second round and made good use of one-two punch combinations. However, he lacked head movement and more articulated combos, which determined his final loss. The second bout was won by Swansea student Cai Bradley over Cardiff student Matthew McFerran. The opponents started off aggressively, with quick combinations and hard punches that soon blackened Bradley’s eye. McFerran carefully timed his opponent all the way through, stepping in right after his opponent’s jab before

ardiff secured a Hockey double as both the men’s and ladies’ teams ran out winner at Sport Wales. The Ladies entered their game as strong favourites after sealing the league title the week before, officially crowning them as the best team in South Wales – throughout the game, their class certainly showed.

Although the first five minutes were quite nervy, a goal from Rosie Bell allowed Cardiff to settle their nerves and focus on taking the game away from their opponents early. Their persistent attacking was guaranteed to lead to a goal eventually, and despite Swansea having a goal disallowed, they rarely threatened in the early stages of the half – buoyed by this, Cardiff slotted home another through Zoe Balfour on 20 minutes. A rare counter-attack against the run of play saw a Swansea forward speed down the line and cross for their cen-

tre forward to score a tap in; but rather than deflate Cardiff, it made them more focused on ramping up the score line – with Balfour unlucky to have her shot saved off the line. Cardiff never looked like losing – they had another shot saved off the line, followed by a disallowed goal, but the pressure was telling as they got a third goal through Millie Bushnell. Cardiff were committing to attack after attack, with their pressure clearly influencing the Swansea defence – Balfour made a fantastic tackle followed by a mazy run, but couldn’t find the finish. A cracking

reverse shot from Ellie Lewis took a deflection off a Swansea stick and looped over the keeper to make it 4-1; whilst Cardiff were in the ascendency, Swansea looked battle-worn. The win was sealed when Sally Clark struck a fierce strike from a short corner beyond the keeper’s reach; scoring only her second goal from Cardiff on the big stage – meaning we had recorded the biggest win the women’s hockey team have had in the last 3 years. In the Men’s game, Cardiff had to battle hard as they eventually ran out 5-3 victors.

GAIR RHYDD SPORT 15

Fencing sees another double triumph for Cardiff

Tanya Harrington

Cardiff Ladies.......................................3 Swansea Ladies......................................2

he ladies fencing teams of both Swansea and Cardiff University met at the Sport Wales National Centre on Wednesday for their annual Welsh Varsity match. Playing for Swansea were team members Olivia Smith, Harriet Taylor, Elizabeth Lee and Teresa Norejko, with the Cardiff team consisting of members Victoria Perrio, Danielle Lis, Costanza Peretti, Gemma Frewin, Federica Maschera, and Weronika Kozuch. With Cardiff holding the ladies fencing win from last year, the spar was host to an intense rivalry as the Swansea team aimed to seize the title for 2017. However, all players were polite and professional, even as various audience members from both Universities heckled them from the sidelines. The rules of the game were as follows: Each bout was between two people, with three minutes of playing time, recorded by a timer that was stopped between gaps in the sparring. It was either this or the bout lasted for as long as it took for contact to be made between the tip of a

sabre and one of the player’s torsos eight times – whichever came first. The latter option made up the majority of this game, with no individual bouts requiring the full three minutes. A point was scored every time one player’s sabre made contact with their opponent’s torso. The game was made up of rounds, with each round consisting of numerous bouts, which continued until one team scored 45 points. In the first round, Swansea scored 23 points, and Cardiff 45, making Cardiff the winner. Cardiff also won the second round, with Swansea scoring 7 points and Cardiff scoring 45. In the final round, Swansea scored 24 points and Cardiff 45, leading to an overall score of 54-135, with Cardiff as the Welsh Varsity match winners once again. Despite some issues with sabre connectivity occasionally failing to register for the Cardiff team over the course of the match, the players still managed to put up an excellent fight and win by a landslide. At the end of the match, the ladies teams both shook hands and thanked one another for the game, before going over to watch and cheer on the men’s fencing.

Cardiff Men’s..........................................3 Swansea Men’s.......................................0

or the fourth time this season, the Cardiff Men’s fencing team faced their counterparts from Swansea. The first three matches all ended in agonisingly close defeats for Cardiff, each due to injuries, BUCS regulations and Brexit. But after two years of Fencing Varsity in Sketty Lane, we were back to the WIS – and for the first time this season, with a full team. Cardiff began the first of three weapons with the foil, and proceeded to fall behind to their athletes at 10-3 after the first two legs. Then on came Luke Deamer, to wrestle back control of the match, bringing Cardiff into a 14-11 lead. The next fight saw Cardiff fall just behind 20-19, but from then on took control of the match. An impressive show of tactical acumen and technical skill saw Cardiff storm to a 45-32 victory, with the club’s former president Jack Houlston, securing the winning points. The second weapon, sabre, began shortly afterwards, with fresher Fraser Woodburn getting the reds into a lead after the first fight, to the backdrop of a wall of noise provided by the crowd.

The best of the rest

Ladies’ Basketball Cardiff....................................................55 Swansea..................................................80

IMG Football Cardiff.......................................................2 Swansea....................................................4

Ladies’ Squash Cardiff......................................................4 Swansea....................................................1

Kickboxing Cardiff......................................................1 Swansea....................................................2

Men’s Ultimate Frisbee Cardiff....................................................14 Swansea..................................................5

Men’s Squash Cardiff.......................................................2 Swansea....................................................6

Rifle Cardiff................................................1149 Swansea.............................................1132

Triathlon Cardiff....................................................26 Swansea..................................................40

However Cardiff were in for a rough ride, as Swansea clawed their way back, and then surged into the leader, despite the best efforts of a controversially selected Ibby Al-Affan. Going into the final fight, they found themselves nine points down, and pinning Cardiff’s hope once again on Fraser. Unfortunately, as one Cardiff fan put it, “a full year on the sesh took its toll, and Fraser’s stamina deserted him.” Final score, 45-32 to Swansea. This meant going into the final weapon, the epee, the scores were level. Winner takes all. A slow start saw Cardiff fall slightly behind, but were hoisted back into the match by BUCS medal winners Krystof Gibbon and Nick Avis. With scores sitting level at 20-20, out came a stunning fight from former Lazio academy graduate Guglielmo Sonnino Sorisio – cousin to Paolo Pizzo – to give Cardiff the upper hand, which the team refused to relinquish. Despite the inebriated warblings of the Swansea supporters, it fell to Team Captain Krystof Gibbon to secure the final hit, which he did with a triumphant roar.Final score: 122-110 to Cardiff. After two years of narrow losses, the bragging rights are back to Team red.

Christopher Lennon

+2 +4 +4

VARSITY 2017