University Challenge 2016-17: Round 2: Match 3: East London vs Warwick

Evening all. In a break with the last six series, neither repechage team reappeared tonight. Instead, we had two teams who had a very different experience of the first round; one narrowly won a very close match, the other ran away with the highest score of the first round. Matches aren't decided on paper, especially based on first round form, so what would we get tonight?

East London, this year's token ex-Polytechnic, were on even terms with Glasgow throughout their first match, ultimately winning it on the final starter of the match, and winning narrowly 150-135. They were unchanged from that time around:
Christopher Ducklin, from Eastbourne, studying Civil Engineering
Kelly Travers, from Westcliff in Essex, studying for a Masters of Research
Captain: Jerushah Jardine, from the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall, studying Peatland Ecology
Rachel Evans, from Grays in Essex, studying English Literature

Warwick started off on even terms with Liverpool in the first half of their first match, before hitting their stride in the second half, and running away with it to win 235-95, which would turn out to be the highest first round score. They were also unchanged from that time:
Sophie Hobbs, from Birmingham, studying French and History
Sophie Rudd, from Grimsby, studying Computer Science and its Applications
Captain: Giles Hutchings, from Farnham in Surrey, studying Maths
Thomas Van, from Geneva, studying History

Off we set again then, and Miss Rudd, by far Warwick's best buzzer first time out, identified the mammal species rodentia for the first starter; a full bonus set straight away showed that they were up for it tonight. Next, we saw 'emoji' as an answer for probably the first time! Miss Rudd took that too, and two bonuses followed this time. Mr Van added his worth by taking the next starter, and two bonuses from a nice set on childrens rhymes followed suite. East London finally got to the buzzer next, but only managed to lose five (albeit for buzzing with just one word left). Ms Travers finally broke the Londoners' duck with the next correct starter, but no bonuses followed. The first picture round, on Latin names of childrens books, went to Warwick, who swept up, and already led 90-5.

Mr Hutchings, who could well be vying for the first UC-Countdown double, took a second starter in a row, but just the one bonus followed this time (unlucky to miss another though). Already, their lead was over 100, and Miss Rudd increased it further by taking the next starter. Already, they looked home and dry, even more so when Mr Hutchings was first in with a very good answer on the next starter. They took one bonus, and unluckily missed another when Mr Hutchings said the wrong answer by mistake despite having been told the right one.

The music starter was dropped (I got it, albeit only because I'd heard it on UC before!); the bonuses, on classical works based on the tales of folk heroes, eventually went to Warwick, who only took the one, but still led comfortably, 160-5. Another starter went Miss Rudd's way, but, again, just the one bonus was converted alongside. East London finally broke back into the match when Mr Ducklin took the next starter, and they took one bonus from a nice set on pairs of novels, unluckily missing the other two. A penalty dropped them back further, but they quickly recouped the points, though got nothing from the resultant bonuses.

The second picture round, on paintings by members of the Royal Academy donated upon their induction, went to East London, who took one bonus, which put the scores at 175-40. Ms Travers then took a fourth starter in a row for the Londoners, and one bonus on Canterbury cathedral ensured they wouldn't be joining the Sub-50 club. (I can post a full list of Paxo-era members of that if anyone wants)

There was only actually time for three starters in the final straight. Miss Rudd took the second, allowing Warwick to increase their lead, which they did via two further bonuses on Japanese fiction. Miss Rudd buzzed on the third, but was beaten by the gong. Warwick won 195-55.

A rather one sided game truth be told. Unlucky East London, who were simply outplayed on the buzzer and just didn't have the bonuses fall for them when they did, but you played in great spirit, so thanks very much indeed for taking part. Very well done to Warwick though; another strong performance on the buzzer and the bonuses makes them one to watch in the group stage, and good luck to them for then.

Miss Rudd was, again, best buzzer of the night, albeit only just with five starters to Mr Hutchings' four, while Ms Travers and Ms Evans took two each for East London. On the bonuses, East London converted just 3 out of 15 (while two penalties), while Warwick managed a rather good 19 out of 30.

Next week's match: don't know, but hopefully we'll find out beforehand. All I can say is I hope its not the two repechage survivors against each other; neither deserve to go out in this round.

Only Connect returned to normal this week, with no mistakes, and a pretty good close match too. More on that tomorrow. I hope.