Swansea celebrate first season win at new St Helen’s
Swansea suffered defeat to Ebbw Vale in the first game back at St Helen's
- Published
Swansea celebrated a first Super Rygbi Cymru (SRC) trophy victory by beating leaders Cardiff 26-3 in driving rain in the second game at the revamped St Helen’s.
Tries from flanker Ethan Fackrell, scrum-half Matthew Aubrey and wing Harvey James were supplemented by 11 points from the boot of full-back Josh Phillips.
Cardiff responded with a Ben Coomer penalty.
It was a first win in six attempts for the Whites, while Cardiff's unbeaten run ends after five victories.
Swansea were playing a second home match in five days after suffering a 27-26 defeat to Ebbw Vale in their first game back at the revamped venue on Saturday.
Only the main stand was open on that occasion, but the West Stand behind the posts was available for the game against Cardiff, which was played in front of a crowd of 2,783.
The terrace, which will be uncovered in the first phase of the stadium development, was still out of bounds but bosses hope the majority of it will be open for the Ospreys' first home fixture against Dragons on Saturday, 24 October (19:45 BST).
Ospreys have not publicly announced how many fans will be allowed in the ground for the United Rugby Championship (URC) Welsh derby in nine days.
The speed of work to rebuild the famous venue has been impressive, and Ospreys face another busy week to complete the transformation into a venue ready for professional sport, with things like a scoreboard and big screens to be brought in.
”It is immensely gratifying to see the shape ground is in today,” said Ospreys managing director Richard Lancaster.
"There is still a lot of work to do but I am delighted in what has been achieved in a short space of time.
"We only started the work on the ground in June this year, so what's been achieved is nothing short of spectacular.
"There has been an unbelievable amount of people working round the clock to get the ground ready for our game next week and we could not have done this without the help of Swansea Council and its leader Rob Stewart, who have invested in the facility.
"It is great to have a home for Ospreys which we have never really had, but more than that, it's a community facility, a beacon of rugby for the region."
