By Gareth James
The biggest rugby crowd of the season in Wales for a non-international game is likely to gather at the Swansea.Com Stadium on Wednesday evening – and there won’t be a professional player in sight.
It’s the BUCS Super Rugby quarter-finalists, Swansea and Cardiff Universities, who go head-to-head in a men’s and women’s double-header in the Welsh Varsity Match – a clash that is live on S4C Clic.
There were 13,000 fans at the Principality Stadium for the last edition in 2019 before COVID struck. And it’s expected this season’s gate could be 15,000.
Cardiff made it three wins in a row last year with an emphatic 78-7 victory against rivals who were under-strength on the day, although their women’s team were beaten 30-27.
This season, both men’s teams reached the knock-out stage of the BUCS Super Rugby campaign for the first time and Josh Moore’s Swansea side can point to two league wins over their big city rivals.
Our Match Day Squad for this years Welsh Varsity! @BUCSSuperRugby 🦢🌊🟢⚪️ pic.twitter.com/IX0rQeWc2z
— Swansea Uni RFC (@surfc_official) April 26, 2022
They won 17-13 at St Helen’s in November and then triumphed 24-20 in Cardiff.
Swansea finished the league season with a flourish as they won their last six games, including a 23-17 win over Cardiff Met at Cyncoed.
They were then beaten by Loughborough (40-10) in the last eight.
Cardiff also went into the quarter-finals, where they were pipped for a third time in the season by Cardiff Met in an epic contest at Cyncoed, played out in front of a crowd of 2,000.
Their journey ended after a 35-34 defeat, while Met were beaten by the eventual champions Exeter University in the semi-finals.
MAE VARSITY CYMRU YN ÔL! 🟢🔴
Varsity is back! 👊🏴
🕟 4.15pm
💻 https://t.co/R7ziWNfUqr
🔴 https://t.co/AJUE7kH4DD#WelshVarsity pic.twitter.com/9C0vNmCsg9
— S4C Chwaraeon 🏴 (@S4Cchwaraeon) April 27, 2022
The Welsh Varsity match is part of a week-long festival of sport that began in 1997 and has grown into the largest student multi-sport event in the UK. There are 36 different sports involved.
S4C will show live online coverage of the Women’s rugby match from 4.20pm on Wednesday, with the Men’s match being shown from 6.50pm.
The matches will be shown on the S4C Clic, the S4C Chwaraeon Facebook Live page and the S4C YouTube page. English match commentary will be available on S4C Clic and YouTube.
Highlights of both matches will then be shown on S4C from 10.00pm on Thursday night, with Lauren Jenkins hosting coverage. English subtitles available.