Evening all. So, the second semi-final, and the third of four all-male matches to finish off the series. A rematch too, as these two sides met in the preliminaries. Whoever won tonight would face Magdalen in next week's final. As I have a couple of weeks off, I am/will be covering both tonight's match and next week's final here in Ayrshire.
Gonville & Caius College Cambridge were considered lukewarm favourites to win the series by many, after seeing off St Anne's College Oxford, Manchester (The Team Everyone Wants To Beat) and both their opponents tonight and their potential opponents next week in the QFs. Hoping to carry on that run tonight were the same four as 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
Durham defeated Brasenose College Oxford, York, Trinity College Cambridge and Liverpool, but lost to their opponents tonight as well. Very much the underdogs for tonight, they too were the same four we've got used to seeing this series:
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
Off we set again then, and Caius showed they meant business when Michael Taylor took the first starter, and two bonuses on the work of Plato. Neither side worked out a complicated questions about playing cards, but Ted Loveday took his first starter shortly afterwards, and the side took all three bonuses on the noughties. Daniel Morgan-Thomas took Durham off the mark with the next starter, but just one bonus followed. Another starter to Caius followed, but just one bonus this time. The first picture round, on poems rewritten in some wierd language by the French Oulipo group of writers, went to Caius, and gave them a lead of 80-10.
Mr Taylor took the next starter, and the side took two bonuses to lift themselves into treple figures. Mr Warner took the next starter, but this time, the side got nothing from a set of bonuses on birds. Still, Durham appeared to be in trouble, which worsened when Mr Morgan-Thomas slipped up, and Ted Loveday picked up the points, allowing the side to take tow bonuses and take a 125 point lead.
Neither side took the music starter, and a slip-up from Mr Loveday allowed Durham to take the music bonueses, on pieces that use cryptography. Caius' lead stood at 125-25. More points went to Durham after Mr Harvey eventually offered up a correct answer he thought might be too obvious! "Nothing's too obvious here!" came the blunt reply! Neither side took the next starter, though Durham came up with an amusing alternative! The next starter asked for a compass calculation; Mr Warner worked it out, but the wrong round, allowing Durham to take the points, but none of the bonuses.
The second picture round, on portraits of notable women of the American Revolution, went to Caius after the starter was dropped; they took two bonuses to increase their lead to 145-50. Neither side had really been firing on all fours tonight, but a run now could win it for either team. Durham took a step closer to an unlikely comeback by taking the next starter, and a full set of bonuses on Elizabethan plots.
Caius awoke from their apparent slumbers now, though, as Mr Martinelli took the next starter; though just one bonus followed, it seemed unlikely that would matter. Mr Martinelli then became the latest person this series to be penalised for interrupting just as the question was finishing. It didn't matter, as Michael Taylor took the next starter and they took one bonus. At the gong, Caius won 170-75.
An odd match that began strong, but petered out somewhat in the second half. Unlucky Durham, but they've had a good run, and, as Paxo said, going out in the semis is perfectly respectable; well done to them. Very well done to Caius though; not quite as imperious as we've come to expect from them, particularly on the bonus front, but a win's a win, and very best of luck for the final next week!
Michael Taylor was the best buzzer of the night, with four starters, while Freddie Lloyd was best for Durham with two (his colleagues all got one each). On the bonuses, Caius converted a still decent 16 out of 30 and Durham 7 out of 15, and the sides incurred two penalties each.
Next week's match: the final! Magdalen vs Caius. It should hopefully be a great match, and hopefully both teams will be able to pull out their best after both stuttering a bit on occasion this series, and give us a great match to finish off the series.
I'll be back with a preview of what's likely to happen next week in the coming days.
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