University Challenge: Repechage Play-Off 2: Homerton vs King's

Well, after last week’s shock result, it’s fair to say neither outcome would be a shock tonight, as the two teams were very even in terms of performance.

Homerton College Cambridge were soundly defeated by New College Oxford in their first match against New College Oxford, losing by 85 points, but still managed a decent 145. Their unchanged team comprised:

Jack Hooper, from Althrincham in Cheshire, studying Natural Sciences

Michael Angland, from Cork, studying Arabic and Spanish

Captain: Luke Fitzgerald, from Hadley in Suffolk, studying History

Drew Miley, from Durham, studying Maths

King’s College Cambridge also scored 145 in their first round match, and lost to St George’s College London by a smaller margin of just 30 points. Their team was also unchanged:

Curtis Gallant, from North London, studying Classics
Amber Ace, from Perthshire, studying Classics
Captain: Fran Middleton, from Chorleywood in Hertfordshire, studying Classics
James Gratrex, from Leeds, studying Physics

Given that Mr Gratrex has been kind enough to post on here and on LAM regularly, King’s had my support tonight. But statistically, despite scoring the same score in their first matches, neither side were favourites. I mean, yes, King’s lost by a much smaller margin, but Homerton scored their points against a team strong enough to score 230 points. So that evens things out.

Honours were even to start with, with the first four starters being split evenly between the two teams, resulting in it quickly being 35 each. The sides remained level until King’s began a sprint which saw them pull away to 100-45.

Homerton got going again at the music round, and began to claw back the deficit. There was much hilarity when the teams suggested that Chelmsford and St Albans were in Denbighshire (dread to think what my Dad, who once lived in North Wales would make of that!).

By the second picture round, Homerton had reduced the gap to nothing, and it was 100 all. The second picture round, on Raphael’s fresco of the School of Athens, saw King’s pull away again. As Paxo remarked, this was where having three classicists on your team came in useful! But a great interruption from Jack Hooper saw Homerton pull level again. Two more starters went to Homerton, but no bonuses went with them.

Homerton were now 20 points ahead, but King’s weren’t finished just yet, and, with four minutes to go, switched into gear, and began a surge on the buzzer. Mr Angland tried to buzz his team back into the match, but miscued, and allowed James [Gratrex] to pull King’s further ahead. Amidst this final flurry, Miss Middleton forgot James’ name, and spluttered ‘nominate… him’ instead of ‘nominate Gratrex’! Though Homerton did manage one more starter, the match was now won. At the gong, King’s won by 205-160.

Great match to watch, with both teams performing finely, and it’s a shame that one must lose. Jack Hooper was Homerton’s best scorer with four starters; his side answered 13 bonuses out of 30 with one penalty. Amber Ace’s six starters were best for King’s, who managed 17 bonuses out of 36. All eight players got at least one starter correct, which just adds to how enjoyable this one was.

Next week: the second round kicks off with Pembroke vs Bath.

Only Connect took a break from the current series tonight for the annual Children in Need special. Naturally, as a Pointless fan, I was supporting Richard Osman’s team, and found it interesting to see him in a different environment to his usual role as the know-it-all who explains the answers. His team won a closely fought match.