Swansea claim a bonus to climb off bottom
BUCS RUGBY
The home stretch of BUCS Super Rugby settled into its flow after a hugely entertaining, and impactful, re-opening week with five more intense clashes this week.
The most important result was in fact a losing bonus point for Swansea against runaway leaders Exeter in a 55-31 result. It immediately lifts Swansea back off bottom spot despite their crucial loss to Nottingham last week.
Nottingham, therefore, will rue squandering a real chance of a shock victory against Durham. The lead had changed hands five times with tries from Nottingham's Lewis Pickford, Ali Loman and Cormack Calnan giving them the ascendancy with 15 to go. However, tries from Charlie Coe, Mike Ford, and Arthur Green kept Durham within range before Will Parry's winner in the 78th minute earned Durham all five points.
There was also another tight game between Met and Bath in biblically bad conditions. Bath led 12-8 with 30 seconds to go but missed a kick from straight in front, allowing Met one last attack in which captain Ewan Guy scored the overtime winner for a 15-12 scoreline.
Elsewhere, Loughborough bounced back from their first home defeat in four years by beating Cardiff 33-5 away, and Hartpury maintained second place with a 33-22 win at Leeds Beckett.
In the women's National League, reigning champions Hartpury finally cashed in on a game in hand against bottom side Durham 60-0 which displaced Cardiff Met from the top spot they had held since September. Hartpury then beat Exeter 47-22 away from home, meaning their top spot is unmitigated by any game in hand complications.
