Monday 2 February 2015

University Challenge 2014-15: Preliminary Quarter-Final 3: Durham vs Caius

Evening all. We continue on our way with the latest quarter-final fixture tonight, and the first all-male line-up on the show of the year (surprisingly, few on Twitter noticed). Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this may also have been the first match back after a recording break.

Durham trounced Brasenose College Oxford in the first round before taking out the excellent York team in, in my opinion, the best match of a pretty uneventful second round. Hoping for similar good fortune tonight, the Durham four were the same as before:
Daniel Morgan-Thomas, from East London, studying History and Classics
Freddie Lloyd, from Penshurst in Kent, studying Philosophy
Captain: Fred Harvey, from Bridlington in East Yorkshire, studying Physics
Nikul Boyd-Shah, from Bournemouth, studying Law

Gonville & Caius College Cambridge had a similar story in their first matches, trouncing St Anne's College Oxford in the first round before narrowly beating Manchester (The Team Everyone Wants To Beat) in the second. They too were unchanged from before:
Ted Loveday, from Hammersmith, studying Law
Michael Taylor, from Ballymena in Northern Ireland, studying History
Captain: Anthony Martinelli, from Hertfordshire, studying Medicine
Jeremy Warner, from Southampton, studying Natural Sciences

Off we set again then, and Durham kicked off first courtesy of Mr Boyd-Shah, and took two bonuses on vikings. They then lost five points to a slip-up, which handed Caius the initiative and allowed them to take a full set of bonuses. A second starter and full bonus set for Caius followed, showing they weren't going to take my naming of St Peter's as 'lukewarm favourites to win the whole series' on LAM on Saturday lying down. Two more starters were split between the teams before the first picture round, on Yorkshire constituencies whose MP has a large majority; Caius took this, giving them a lead of 85-30.

Ted Loveday, impressive in the first round but rather quiet in the second, took his third starter of the still-young match, and the side took two from a rather complicated bonus set; Paxo wasn't afraid to tell them they were 'utterly wrong' on the third! Anthony Martinelli picked up another starter for the Cambridge side, and, again, they took two bonuses. Their decent bonus rate, combined with their strong buzzer work, had kept Durham shut out for a while, and given them a lead of nearly 100 points.

That lead broke 100 when Ted Loveday recognised Charpentier as the French composer of the old Eurovison music for the music starter; the bonuses, on classical pieces known as 'te deum', gave Caius a lead of 140-30. And it was just getting bigger when Mr Martinelli took his latest starter, and again shortly afterwards when Michael Taylor won the buzzer race to identify the Great Gatsby's final line; the side took one bonus from each resultant set. A very clever early buzz from Ted Loveday added more to the fire, and poor Durham were now well behind. They finally broke back in when Freddie Lloyd identified Haussman's planning of Paris (second week running one of Major Ingram's question subjects has come up on the show!), but had the horrible luck to get a set of bonuses on astrophysics.

The second picture round, on engravings of scientists at work, went to Caius, who took all three bonuses, bringing their lead to 215-40. An unlucky buzz by Michael Taylor, beaten by a swerve, lost them five and allowed Durham back itno the game. The Wearsiders took a full set of bonuses on US presidential slogans, and then Daniel Morgan-Thomas, impressive in the prior rounds, bought them their second starter in a row. They were too far behind to catch Caius now, but triple figures was all they deserved.

Caius weren't quite finished yet though, and Mr Martinelli took his latest starter to really confirm the side were home and safe. Jeremy Warner then took his first starter of the night, and the side took all three bonuses just to pour more salt into Durham's already pretty sore wounds. Two starters were then dropped, before Freddie Lloyd picked up another starter for Durham, but they just fell short of breaking three figures. The final starter went to Caius, and they took the one bonus they had time to answer. At the gong, Caius won 275-95.

I don't think most of us expected that one-sided a match, to be honest. Unlucky Durham, who were just buzzed out for much of the match; best of luck that things work out better for them next time. Very well done to Caius though on another storming performance, and we shall definitely look forward to seeing them in their next match. The odds on a St Peter's-Caius final, as (sort of) predicted by Cassiopeia after their first round matches, must have just shortened drastically.

Anthony Martinelli was, just, the best buzzer of the night, with six starters to Ted Loveday's five, while Freddie Lloyd was best for Durham with three. On the bonuses, Durham managed 8 out of 18 and Caius a pretty good 28 out of 41; both sides incurred one penalty.

Next week: by process of elimination, it must be Trinity vs Magdalen

Only Connect finally came to the end of its group phase tonight, with a low scoring but close match, and yet another amusing missing vowels round. Hopefully, by next week, I will have fully caught up with the series via my speed-watching and thus be able to do full weekly reviews of the knockout matches.

6 comments:

  1. I've liked these Caius guys from their very first match when they trounced St. Anne's and after that impressive showing I'm expecting to see them in the final, if not win the thing outright. They are a well-oiled machine who seem to have all the topics covered (interesting to see Loveday, the law student, fielding many of the physics questions in their three matches so far).

    Magdalen v Trinity next week should be fascinating. Tentative co-favourites vs. an unknown quantity.

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  2. Now, this is confusing. I am told that in 2 week's time (16 Feb) they will broadcast Caius v Magdalene - i.e. the top two scoring teams from the first rounds. I can't see how Magdalene would be on two weeks running, though.

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  3. Can't see how it is a spoiler. Caius have won one, and still have to play another team in their 'pool'. Magdalen have at least two more ties (whether they play next week or not and whether they win or lose next week). So it doesn't say anything at all about the result next week ...

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    1. Except that Magdalen would be playing Caius for a place in the semis, thus implying they would win their first fixture.

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  4. I'd really like to see Caius play St. Peter's - even more than Magdalen. Caius have had a different MVP for each of their three matches, which makes them the anti-St. Peter's in that regard.

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