Inside Cardiff Met RFC, the astonishing talent factory England are all over

It’s some legacy to live up to, but Cardiff Met are making a pretty decent job of it.

If you look at the players that have come through the college in its various incarnations over the decades, it’s like a Who’s Who of Welsh rugby.

Gareth Edwards, JJ Williams, Clive Rowlands, Allan Martin, John Bevan, Roy Bergiers, Brynmor Williams, David Richards, John Devereux, Stuart Davies, Jon Humphreys, Ben Evans, Gareth Cooper, Ryan Jones, Aaron Shingler, Ken Owens, Alex Cuthbert.

The list of internationals just goes on and on and, with each passing year, it grows.

If you look at next weekend’s England-Wales game at Twickenham, you will have two recent Met graduates in the opposing ranks in back row duo Alex Dombrandt and Aaron Wainwright.

On top of that, there are two further Cyncoed products in Eddie Jones’ Six Nations squad in Harlequins centre Luke Northmore and London Irish back row Tom Pearson.

England boss Jones delivered a typical headline-grabbing quip on the subject when he said every club would now be looking in the bars of Cardiff Met for rugby players.

Understandably, the college would rather focus on his more serious comment that it’s “a popular breeding ground for Test match rugby players”.

The good work continues, with further talent emerging.

Solihull-born scrum-half Ellis Bevan was capped by Wales U20s after impressing for the Met and has now been handed a contract by Cardiff Rugby.

If you look at the current Wales U20s squad, it includes Cyncoed students Joe Cowell, Morgan Lloyd and Rhys Barratt, with loosehead prop Cowell having played for Cardiff in the Champions Cup against Toulouse in December.

Just as it churned out players during its time as the Cardiff Teacher Training College, South Glamorgan Institute