University Challenge 2023-24: Repechage Play-Off 1: Trinity vs Southampton

Good evening my friends, and welcome back to Quizzy Mondays! The new era of University Challenge has begun most promisingly with, as I said in my first round review on Thursday, a very strong round that has given us a very strong and close knit second round line-up. And it's not even complete yet, as we still have, what AR is calling (whereas Paxo never did), the repechage to deal with...

Trinity College Cambridge lost the very first game of the series against Manchester, with their opponents catching up right at the end, 175-each the final score, and pipping them on a tie-breaker. They were the same foursome as before:

Sarah Henderson, from North London, studying Japanese

Agnijo Banerjee, from Dundee, studying Maths

Captain: Ryan Joonsuk Kang, form Seoul, studying Organic Chemistry

Jeremi Jaksina, from Bialystok, Poland, studying Genetics

 

Southampton were beaten by Christ Church Oxford three weeks later, leading at the half-way mark before a sprint in the second half gave their opponents the win, though a late recoverery saw them pull the score to 180-155. They were also unchanged from before:

Elise Harrington, from Vancouver, studying Geochemistry

Rhys Counsell, from Bangor in Northern Ireland, studying Neutron Star Physics

Captain: Roshana Wickremasinghe, from Watford, studying Education

Chris Meredith, from Horsham, studying Maths

So, off we set once again then, and it was Mr Kang who opened the scoring for the night with 'stainless steel' (appropriate given how much Robot Wars I've been watching lately!), which was followed by two bonuses on fashion designers. The Cambridge side proceded to take the next three starters, which saw them race into an immediate strong lead, and meant AR already felt the need to give Southampton a 'plenty of time'; it seemed to work, as the Saints duly opened their account with the first picture round, on locations of hydroelectric power stations, and took a full bonus set to boot, taking the scores to 90-25. It looked like a blip though, as Trinity reawoke to take a further three starters, which increased their lead to 125 points, before another AR PoT moment was followed, again, by Southampton reawkening with a starter and pair of bonuses. After the music round, on compositions by composers associated with the city of Weimar, Trinity led 170-45.

Southampton did now manage a brief rally of two starters in a row, but just two bonuses meant they were still nearly 100 behind, with the gap increasing again when Trinity took another starter plus two bonuses from a classic UC set on pairs of words differing by the addition of a 'Y' on the end. After the second picture round, on female scientists who made major contributions to research that led to male colleagues winning Nobel prizes, which Trinity took a full set on, the Cambridge side led 215-75. All over bar the shouting now, with Mr Banerjee making doubly sure as he took the next two starters; just one bonus came from each resulting set, but it didn't really matter now. Southampton did deservedly manage a late rally to reach three figures though, which also ensured all eight playershad contributed a correct starter for the first time in a few weeks. At the gong, Trinity won 245-120.

Another fine and enjoyable, if one-sided, contest. Well done to Trinity, an excellent performance which only strengthens the already-strong second round line-up, of which they are a worthy addition; best of luck in it! Hard lines to Southampton, but a perfectly respectable performance in the circumstances; thanks for playing!

The stats: Mr Banerjee was the best buzzer of the night with six starters, while Messrs Counsell and Meredith and Ms Wickremasinghe all got two each for Southampton. On the bonuses, Trinity managed a very good 25 out of 36 and Southampton 10 out of 19, with no penalties all night and, as I said earlier, all eight players got at least one starter right, which is always most pleasing.

Next week's match: Oxford Brookes vs Open in the second play-off (ironic that AR is now using the word 'repechage' just when most of us aren't calling it that as much!)

Only Connect continued the qualifiers with the returns of the Isotopes and the Also Rans. The latter led 4-3 after the first round, and 6-5 after a rather tough second. A better wall saw the Isotopes take the lead 12-11 going into Missing Vowels, but the Also Rans easily bossed that to win 21-14.

 

Mastermind was won by Tom Moody, whose 20 points saw him edge out Marion Vasquez with 17, with Christopher Davis on 15 and Lilian Downs on 9.

 

Brain of Britain was won by Dan Adler (formerly of OC, Mastermind, Counterpoint and many others), who seized the initiative with a 5IARAABP in the second round and never looked back, eventually winning with 18 points, eight clear of second placed Hazel Humphreys, who is unlucky not to have reached the HSNW board IMO. Anne McIlhinney and Richard Pyne also competed, finishing with 7 and 2 respectively.