The Met travelled to south west Wales for the second round of the UK Police Service Cup series, taking on regular foes Dyfed Powys Police. A magnificent second half performance was not quite good enough to make up for a somewhat leaky first-half defence, and the home side just hung on for the narrowest of victories.
The Met were first to draw blood, scoring a converted try within the first five minutes. After the initial wake up call, Dyfed Powys upped the gears and rattled off four unanswered tries, going into the break 24-7 in front. The second half was initially a mirror image. The Met scored a converted try almost from the restart and the Welsh came straight back and re-established the three-score point cushion. This time, however, the Met were not prepared to be welsh lambs to the slaughter and worked hard to work another try to make it 31-21. A period of thrust and parry ensued until once again Met breached the home defence, a fourth try putting them back in contention. But the missed conversion was to prove crucial. Dyfed Powys did their own re-grouping from the re-start and ran in their sixth try, converted to give them a 38-26 lead. Almost immediately, the Met retaliated, showing that they were far from beaten. A fifth try followed for the Met and the conversion brought the visitors within a single score once again. The panic in the Welsh ranks was clear to see and, when the next penalty was awarded within kicking range, Dyfed Powys's skipper had no hesitation in pointing to the posts to give his side a two score cushion.
The Welsh hosts now did the rugby equivalent of parking the bus as the Met pushed and probed. A 78th minute converted try took the game to a "one-point shoot-out" but it was just too much of an ask for the London outfit and the Met had to get back on their own bus with the bitter taste of a single point defeat.