Reporter: Tomos Smallwood
Cardiff’s second home game of the campaign ended in defeat as Durham left Llanrumney with a commanding 22-point victory. The result sees Cardiff drop to 8th in the table.
With Durham searching for their first win of the season, and Cardiff coming off the back of a defeat to inter-city rivals Cardiff Met both teams entered the contest with a point to prove.
The game started with Durham dominating possession as Cardiff struggled to put their stamp on affairs. It took a fantastic piece of defensive work from the home side to prevent a Durham maul crashing over the tryline just six minutes into the game.
Just three minutes later however, the visitors broke the deadlock, taking advantage of the pressure, they created, to take a 7-0 lead.
The game seemed to run away from the home side, Cardiff unable to string phases together as handling errors stacked up, gifting possession to their opponents.
Two more Durham tries followed in the 20th and 24th minute, the latter of which being converted to take Durham to 19 unanswered points.
After another period of absorbing pressure, Cardiff finally settled. Scrum half Finn Charles’ solo effort was chalked off by the referee, who adjudged Charles had stolen the ball from an offside position.
Charles would not have to wait long for another opportunity, with the clock in the red at the end of the first half, the number nine slid over the tryline to cut the visitors lead to twelve, with the score at the break Cardiff 7 – 19 Durham.
Hopes of a second half comeback were dashed soon after the interval. Less than a minute into the second period, Durham extended their lead to 26 – 7 making an uphill task almost impossible for Cardiff.
Another converted try just four minutes later killed any hope of the hosts salvaging anything from the game as Durham boasted an unassailable twenty-six-point lead with just minutes twenty minutes left on the clock.
Cardiff did rally however, scoring converted tries in both the 60th and 70th minute; the scoreboard looking much more respectable.
Although, the positivity was short lived as just one minute after Dylan Line’s try, fullback Elis Bird had to be carried off the pitch following what appears to be a nasty leg injury.
Perhaps deservedly, Durham had the final say of the game, scoring a converted try in the 75th minute to leave the scoreline Cardiff 21 – 43 Durham.
CARDIFF UNIVERSITY RUGBY 