Monday 25 November 2019

University Challenge 2019-20: Round 2: Match 2: Southampton vs Durham

Evening all. On we head then to the second match of the most brutal round in the contest. And after what I said last week, I'm still trying to come up with a new format that ensures no-one leaves after a win and a single loss, is easy to understand and doesn't drag the contest out too much longer. If I come up with something, I will let it be known here. On with tonight's show...

Southampton started slowly in their first match against Goldsmiths of London, not scoring until after the first picture round, before recovering and ultimately winning comfortably 175-95. They were the same foursome as that time around: 
Josh Holland, from Worcester, studying Theoretical Computer Science 
Rory Fleminger, from Oxford, studying Civil Engineering 
Captain: Steve Barnes, from Hyde in Hampshire, studying Chemical Education 
James Carrigy, from Knaphill in Surrey, studying History

Durham lost their first match to Trinity of Cambridge, but survived to the play-offs, where they faced York, and ran out very comfortable winners by 240-145. They were also the same four as those prior occasions: 
Charles Bland, from Sutton in Surrey, studying Philosophy
William Tams, from Kirkby Stephen in Cumbria, studying Biosciences
Captain: Joe Cooper, from London, studying Chemistry
Arthur Raffle, from Manchester, studying French and German 

Off we set again then, and Mr Barnes opened the scoring by knowing the colour linking, among others, the 1991 European Cup winners, to be red (as in Star Belgrade); one bonus on trees followed. Mr Tams set Durham off in quick pursuit, and they fared much better on bonuses on words that can follow 'Shut your' to give expressions meaning 'Be Quiet!', a full house there. Mr Cooper came in too soon and lost five on the next starter, allowing his opposite number to take his second starter of the match; one bonus on pairs of people with similar names followed. Mr Tams was back in for Durham to tie the scores again, and two bonuses followed. The first picture round, on the sites of Scottish battles, went to Durham, who took another two bonuses, taking their lead to 60-30.

Mr Holland came back in for Southampton on the next starter though, unlocking a set of physics bonuses that I'm not even going to pretend I understood; they had two of them correct though, taking the gap back to ten. Mr Raffle upped the lead again, knowing that 'priest' and 'Oliver Goldsmith' would probably mean it was 'The Vicar of Wakefield' we were talking about; this game them a set of bonuses on the FA Trophy, of which they took two bonuses (I had a full set). Mr Tams shot in quickly again for Durham, which gave them a bonus set on IT terms, of which they drew a rare blank. It didn't look like it would matter at this point though, as Mr Raffle took the next starter and two bonuses followed.

Neither side identified a bit of Vivaldi's Four Seasons for the music starter; the replacement starter asked for the year when, among others, the first Shrek film was released; I knew it to be 2001, having rented in on VHS back in the day (ah, the early noughties!). Mr Bland was two years out, and when the question later revealed another clue to be the inauguration of George W Bush, Mr Barnes had the answer. The music bonuses, on horse riding in classical music, gave Southampton no further bonuses, but did reduce their gap to 105-60. Mr Tams recouped Durham's lost points as he took the next starter, and a rather straight forward (and topical) bonus set on political parties in Northern Ireland was swiftly swept clean. Mr Bland took the next, and bonuses on that old quiz staple the Shipping Forecast gave them two correct, and they were unlucky to miss the other, offering 'South Iceland' instead of 'South East Iceland'. Five were then lost to a penalty though, and Mr Carrigy picked up for Southampton; a much needed full set of bonuses on the moons of planets followed. Mr Holland gave the Saints a second starter in a row, and one bonus was sufficient to put them into triple figures.

The second picture starter saw Mr Raffle use the old logic of 'if it's an engraving, Durer will always be a good shout'; the bonuses, on works involving momento moris, gave Durham another two correct bonuses, and a lead of 165-100. And when Mr Tams took the next starter, and another pair of bonuses followed, the Wearsiders were within sight of victory.

Southampton had to go for it now; a chance went begging as Mr Bland buzzed too early on the next starter with only half the required answer, then gave the rest after his side had already been penalised; Paxo rightly canned the starter there. The next was dropped, but when Mr Bland atoned by taking the next, that was game over; a full set of bonuses on penguins confirmed this. Mr Barnes did the right thing and took an early punt on the next starter, but only lost five; Mr Tams did the honours, and a second full set in a row went with it. Mr Holland was unfortunate on the final starter, offering 'Octavius' instead of 'Octavia'; Mr Raffle took the points, and Durham took the one of the two bonuses there was time to answer. At the gong, Durham won 245-95.

A good contest, one sided, but watchable throughout. Unlucky Southampton, a solid team who did not deserve to lose as heavily as that, but a respectable pair of performances, thanks for playing! Very well done Durham though, another great performance against proven good opponents, and best of luck in the quarter-finals!

The stats: Mr Tams was the best buzzer of the night, with seven starters, while Mr Barnes was best for Southampton with three. On the bonuses, Southampton converted 8 out of 18 (with one penalty), while Durham managed 27 out of 38 (with four penalties).

Next week's match: don't know yet, but will keep an eye out.

Only Connect was another good match between the Journeymen and the Junipers, both unlucky to be in the elimination round. It went right to the wire, an 18-each tie, and the Junipers won on the resulting tie-breaker.

1 comment:

  1. This is the first time since 2011-12 that two highest-scoring runners up have gone on to reach the QFs. On that occasion, Homerton Cambridge (who featured Thomas Grinyer who was on Only Connect on Monday) reached the QFs, whereas Worcester Oxford reached the SFs.

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