Coleg Gwent secured the final spot in the WRU Wednesday U18 League Cup draw with a plucky 10-0 victory over Whitchurch High School.

Conditions were testing to say the least when the two teams clashed yesterday at the Wales Centre of Excellence in Hensol. Not only did the two teams have to deal with driving rain, the greasy surface made handling difficult.

To their credit both teams attempted to play running rugby but the slippery ball made ball retention difficult.

Fly half Matthew Lewis gave Coleg Gwent a 3-0 lead at the break with a penalty to leave the match delicately poised at the break.

Whitchurch's back three of Will Young, Kane Teear-Bourge and Toby Champ were constant threats in the second half but their willingness to run from all angles come to nothing as ball retention became a major issue for both sides in the trying conditions.

Whitchurch continued to remain in the hunt until the dying stages when Ruari O'Flynn's cross field kick was skilfully reclaimed by Lewis who dived over in the corner. O'Flynn's sideline conversion hammered home the final nail into Whitchurch's coffin.

Coleg Gwent Head of Rugby, Matthew Jones, said: "The win was the most important thing, as the victory puts us into the top competition.

"We left it until the 70th minute but that is what it is all about at this level, you have to stay in the game for the full 70 minutes. I think our defence won us the game, we were strong and didn't give away as many penalties this week - and our kickers put us in the right areas.

"We don't make teams work hard to get out of their 22 but I thought we did that much better against Whitchurch - it's just a pity today we couldn't execute as well as we could as we know we are a very good team and this weather was a bit of a spoiler."