Find out how Women's Rugby, Men's Rugby, Netball and Women's Squash got on at this years finals.
BIG BUCS WEDNESDAY 2015 saw a total of 43 finals across 12 sports. This event is the pinnacle of University sport and the motivation that helps many students through their early hour training sessions, long bus journeys and hours on the pitch/court or in the gym.
This year Cardiff Met had 4 teams reach finals that were hosted at Loughborough University, after Men's Lacrosse and Men's Badminton had already won their Conference Cup Finals held the week before. No pressure then...
The Archers started the day with both Men's Rugby 1st team and Women's Rugby 2nd team kicking off at 2pm. The Women's 2nd team stormed to the final after beating De Montfort, St Mary's, Bath and Bristol; all of which were 1st team's at their respective institutions. They went into the final against Northumbria full of confidence after winning their BUCS League (Western 1A). The girls started slowly and Northumbria took advantage of this scoring 2 tries in the first 20 minutes. The Archers had to pull together and work harder against an unbeaten opposition from Northern 1A. A feisty match up continued and yellow cards were given after things got heated between the teams. Cardiff Met got points on the board with tries from Kelsey Boast, Amber Regardsoe and Jess Pritchard but unfortunately the match was out of their reach already. They battled until the end and made the Archer proud to the final whistle, the end score 17-35 to Northumbria 1st team.
The Men's 1st team were playing for the BUCS Vase this year; after a season of mixed results, the boys were looking to end on a high with some silverware. They reached the final after a 35-5 win over Nottingham 1st team in the Semi Finals and travelled to Loughborough to face a Newcastle side who similarly have had a mixed bag of results this year. Cardiff Met put the first points on the board and went into half time 17-10. Newcastle were not going to lie down dead and pulled it back to 17-15, a close match with only a couple of points in it. The Archers showed their physical and tactical prowess with an excellent second half of rugby. The determination to clinch some silverware was evident and the final score saw the Archers victorious 27-18.
Women's Squash reached the Championship final after an amazing season for the girls in the BUCS League. In the knockout competition they beat Nottingham in their semi final 3-1 to set up the final which coincidently took place in Nottingham itself. The final saw them face Birmingham 1st team in a tightly contested match up which ended 2-2. After a count back on the games the Archers were unfortunate to lose 8-6. A successful season in the Southern Prem and reaching the Championship finals is a testament to the Squash team and proves there is plenty of potential in this team.
A long wait was required for the Netball 1st team who didn't start their Championship final until 8:15pm. The girls have had a flawless season winning 10 out of 10 games and a goal difference of +190 in the Premier South. The BUCS gold would finish the 2014/15 season perfectly and seal an already outstanding year for Netball. A full arena turned up to watch the match-up with at least 60 Archer fans making the trip to be in the crowd, making enough noise for the two teams combined. Leeds Beckett took the lead early on and looked to control the game going in to the 2nd quarter with a lead of 14-9. Despite a strong effort from our 'Metballers' the lead was held throughout the game and at half time there was still 5 points separating the teams. Injury and decisions going against Cardiff Met didn't help the sides chances of a comeback, however the Archers gave every effort until the final whistle. The game ended 31-50 to Leeds Beckett, all credit to the opposition who performed incredibly throughout. The fairytale ending wasn't to be this season but the girls can be immensely proud of reaching the final and all of their performances throughout the season.
Please find all photos from the day on the Cardiff Met AU Facebook Page