Cardiff Met University: Inside the 'rugby breeding ground' producing stars for England and Wales

Alex Dombrandt played for Wales Under-20s against England while he was studying at Cardiff Met

As England's head coach, Eddie Jones might not seem an obvious choice as the poster boy for a Welsh university.

But when he described Cardiff Metropolitan University as "a popular breeding ground for Test match rugby players", Jones brought it to the attention of the rugby world.

England's Six Nations squad features three Cardiff Met graduates - Alex Dombrandt, Luke Northmore and Tom Pearson - while another, Aaron Wainwright, is in the Wales set-up.

When England host Wales at Twickenham next Saturday, theirs will be a university reunion with a difference.

Producing elite athletes is nothing new for the university formerly known as University of Wales Institute Cardiff, or 'Uwic'. More than 50 of its students have gone on to play international rugby, including Ryan Jones, JJ Williams, Allan Martin, John Devereux and perhaps the sport's greatest of all, Sir Gareth Edwards.

Now, however, following Jones' comments and selection of England's Met trio, there is more interest than ever in the institution affectionately known as the 'College of Knowledge' - and the rugby factory at its heart.

"To have three boys go into the English national team after only graduating three or four years ago is fantastic for us," says Ian Gardner, a former Wales Under-18s coach who is now a lecturer in sport and physical education at the university as well as the head coach of Cardiff Met RFC.

"We're really proud of those players but we're also really pleased that Eddie recognised they had come through the Cardiff Met University programme.

"Interestingly, none of them had academy backgrounds previously. They certainly had a lot of talent and that talent was nurtured here."

As Storm Dudley batters Cardiff on a dark Wednesday afternoon, Met's campus in the Cyncoed area of the Welsh capital is abuzz with the day's sporting activity.

This is an institution of sporting excellence, with enviable facilities to cater for track and field athletes, footballers, swimmers and countless others - as well as those whose participation is more recreational.

While teams trudge through the howling wind and driving rain to their respective matches, hundreds of students pile into the bar.

As they prepare to brave the conditions to support Cardiff Met RFC in their derby against Swansea University that evening, the self-styled 'ultras' are loading up on cans of lager and loudly working through their repertoire of chants.

In a quieter corner of the building, sipping on a coffee and getting ready to deliver his team talk in a lecture theatre is Cardiff Met director of rugby Danny Milton.

"I'm not going to get sacked if we lose against Swansea tonight," he smiles.

Rather than competing with the academies of professional teams, Milton says universities such as his complement those options with a "holistic" approach.

"Some people are right to go straight into that academy but what university does - with those three years and the development you can get, that bigger picture - can really help people if they're good enough," Milton explains.

"The excitement is about Tom, Luke and Alex but what about the guys who get 2:1s and become PE teachers or go back to their own rugby clubs, or go to London Welsh or another club? It's about that bigger, wider piece for all our students."

Director of rugby Danny Milton addresses Cardiff Met's players

Cardiff Met RFC boasts 12 teams featuring more than 280 players, with the top 50 making up an elite squad who compete in Bucs Super Rugby - the highest level of university competition - as well as the Welsh Championship.

While the vast majority of students play for fun, those in the elite group live like professionals, training or playing six days a week under the guidance of a coaching team with experience of working in international rugby.

Dombrandt, Northmore, Pearson and Wainwright all came through this system, and it is the image of England number eight Dombrandt on the front of that evening's match programme.

"Alex did a huge amount of work to get better. I remember walking down Wellfield Road with my wife and seeing him come out of Tesco hiding a load of cream cakes," Milton recalls.

"He's got a sweet tooth - we get it, he gets it. These boys will go and have a pint if they win and that's an important part of it - let's not make out that rugby players don't go out at all.

"But you're not getting up four days a week at 6:30am, you're not doing all that analysis to go out on the booze all the time."

Those early starts are often to work with Dai Watts, the imposing head of strength and conditioning.

"Everything we do, there must be transferability - connectivity between the exercises and the sport we're doing - and there must be ownership from the people doing it," he says with a piercing glare.

"You have ownership of the programme and only then do we get the best out of you. We talk about that all the time. What is your strategy today? What are you lifting and why?"

Watts is stood in one of the campus' many weights rooms. On the walls are pictures of the training kit players took home with them at the start of the pandemic, with Tom Pearson among them.

Covid-19 hit during Pearson's second year and, after graduating with a 2:1 in sport and exercise science in 2021, he earned a contract with English Premiership side London Irish.

Dombrandt graduated with a 2:1 in sport and physical education in 2018 and, having won the English Premiership title with Harlequins last season, the 24-year-old has now established himself in the England squad.

"One of the things that got on my nerves was people saying he had a university body, a 'uni rig', but when we had him he was almost 140kg and we got him down to about 120," says Watts.

"He was squatting 200kg plus with us, sprinting 20m in under three seconds and I could give you a load of figures on him. We actually moved a long way forward with Alex.

"When Alex came in he was actually a really good cricketer and there was talk of him coming into what was then the MCCU, the Welsh universities' squad.

"You could see from the word go he was a player, a good offload game, and he worked tremendously hard, with me and also on the technical side. He's a special player."

As proud as Cardiff Met are of their most famous graduates, their rugby programme is about more than developing international players.

The university's renowned sport performance analysis department offers one of the alternative routes to a career in professional sport.

There are around 250 students on the course, which has produced analysts for international football and rugby teams, Premier League clubs, cricket teams and global sporting governing bodies such as Fifa and World Rugby.

Analysis plays an important role in sport at various levels so, at a university which is home to a vast array of teams, these students have a wealth of work experience opportunities on their doorstep.

As part of their course, third-year undergraduates Brooklyn Hicks-Williams and Richard Andrews work as analysts for Cardiff Met RFC.

Although the match against Swansea University has not even started yet, they have already compiled a comprehensive presentation on next week's opponents Bath.

"This particular placement is voluntary, but you can't get this experience anywhere else," says Hicks-Williams.

"We're meant to do 80 hours for the placement and I think Richard and I did that in the first two weeks of pre-season. We've racked up about 500 hours by now."

Looking on proudly as the two explain their work is Alun Carter, the former Wales flanker who worked as the national team's analyst during their 2005 Grand Slam triumph and is now a lecturer in sport performance analysis.

"I worked at Worcester Warriors for five years and I saw players coming to the end of their careers. They used to break out in a cold sweat when the time came for them to finish," Carter says.

"The support was there, but some of them had decided not to take it. By the same token, I saw the academy players and there would be a lot of drop-out - you'd only have two or three players a year who would sign professional contracts.

"What happened to those players who didn't get the professional contracts? They went into semi-pro rugby, amateur rugby and one or two of them actually finished playing.

"When you look at this model, for me coming into the university in the last year, it's an absolutely great model."

Cardiff Met fans brave the extreme wind and rain of Storm Dudley to watch their team face Swansea University

Carter sets off to swap his shirt and chinos for waterproofs as he joins Gardner, Milton and forwards coach Alun Williams, a former Newport prop, to prepare the team for that evening's encounter.

The conditions are about as tough as they get for rugby - a violent wind shaking the posts and surrounding trees, together with torrential swirling rain - and yet still a few hundred hardy souls stand on the uncovered terraces to support Cardiff Met.

With a drummer setting the beat, the ultras roar their encouragement for the home side while taking a few swipes at their visitors from Swansea, who have former Wales fly-half James Hook among their coaching staff.

Playing with the wind, Cardiff Met build a 17-7 half-time lead, but a late try helps Swansea snatch victory and inflict a first home defeat of the year on their rivals.

As he joked earlier, Milton's job will not be under threat because of one loss. As an academic studying for his own PhD as well as leading the university's rugby programme, he knows as well as anybody that there is more to the Cardiff Met experience than results alone.

"It was going to happen at some point and, in Bucs Super Rugby, this is the first time Cardiff Met have lost one of the Welsh derby games," Milton says.

"We're there to be shot at and Swansea have certainly taken that crown. We'll be excited to play them next year and put it right."