In a physically demanding game the Penn State Women lost to University of Wales – Institute of Cardiff 34-27. UWIC are the most successful women’s university side in Britain, winning 5 National Titles in a row before losing last year in the semis. They played Loughborough on Monday in the National Semi-finals and won 65-0, so this was a great test for women’s rugby in the US.
UWIC were missing 6 international players that were not able to play because they will be playing for their country this weekend, however they did make a call and brought in some recent alumni to help them in this game. This was one of the most physical games any Penn State team has played. UWIC were slow starters as Penn State went up with a try, but soon they came back and scored one of their own. This was the pattern as each side took turns scoring. The game was 3 30 minute periods and Penn State played 32 players which prevented good continuity. UWIC also had unusual combinations and the skill of the play never quite reached the level of the intensity. Unfortunately UWIC’s fly-half scored a great 40 m try stepping through a tired Penn State team to score at the death and secure the win for the home team.
UWIC is one of the top sports universities in Britain and we hope to develop a relationship with the rugby program. After the match the team was hosted at the Student Union for the social.
Today the players got up at 9am for a stretch and core work-out they then spent the rest of the day site-seeing around Cardiff. This afternoon the team will run to St Albans Rugby Club for a light practice preparing for our last match of the tour against Pontyclun. The match will actually be played at Beddau with a 7.15pm kick-off.
