Thursday 23 June 2022

University Challenge 2012-13 Revisited: Part 5: Matches 15 to 17

OK, so, we've cleared the first round in our 10th anniversary blog series; in this week's installment, we move on to the play-offs and the first second round match.

Match 15, Play-Off 1: Lincoln vs Lancaster (5th November 2012)
The first of the two play-offs pitted Lincoln, who lost that iconic match to Manchester, against Lancaster, who had lost to Pembroke. Lincoln were the firm favourites, but, while still decent, were on not as good form as their first match. The teams were very even at first, generally swapping starters and being evenly matched on the bonuses.
 
Lancaster led after the music round; Lincoln then took two starters in a row to take the lead, only for Lancaster to immediately retake it on the next starter and they would keep hold of it for the rest of the match, despite their bonus rate tailing off a bit late on. Lancaster won the game 165-120, while for Lincoln, it was a sad case of what might’ve been after that highly unlucky first round defeat.
 
Match 16, Play-Off 2: Homerton vs King's (12th November 2012)
The second play-off was a Cambridge derby. The teams started off pretty even at first, until King’s managed to string a run of starters together in the lead up to the music round that saw them pull ahead. One unfortunate incident saw Mr Fitzgerald offer ‘Orinoco’ in lieu of the artistic movement ‘Rococo’, which I strongly suspect might have something to do with a starter the previous series asking for a river that rhymed with an art movement.
 
Homerton recovered well though, and pulled level a couple of times before taking the lead late on, but they failed to add to their lead with either of the two starters they took having done so. This proved their undoing, as King’s took two of their own and a pair of bonuses; key moment came when Mr Angland zigged with ‘Canute’ and lost five, allowing Jim Gratrex to zag with ‘Ethelred’ and take the points. Two further starters secured King’s the win, with the tension getting to Ms Middleton, who at one point forgot Jim’s name and was forced to say “Nominate, er, him!”! King’s won the game 205-160 to take the final place in the second round, while Homerton could also feel unlucky to go out having run into two decent teams.
 
Match 17, Round 2 Match 1: Pembroke vs Bath (19th November 2012)
The first second round brought back two teams who’d won consecutive first round matches. Pembroke were the firm favourites to win the game, and did so comfortably, but Bath, to their credit, were very much on level terms at first. After just over 10 minutes, the teams were level on 50-each, but, by the time Bath next scored, Pembroke had run away to 210.
 
One starter asked for three rhyming words (beam, steam and meme), the sort of starter we used to have a lot around this time, but has since fallen out of fashion on the show. (Pretty sure we had that particular question on another show to boot) Another, asking for a Charlotte Bronte title character, I remembered enough to provide two pointless answers in a Pointless final last week! Bath did get a couple more starters late on to reach a more respectable score, but were well beaten. Pembroke won the game 255-75, but that, sadly, would be as good as it got for them this series…
 
Three more matches coming up next week, and I also suspect we'll be getting news of when the new series of UC will be starting as well shortly. See yous then then.

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