St
George’s College London won their first round match 175-145, defeating our friend
James Gratrex and co from King’s College Cambridge, who were good enough to
survive to the repechage and make the second round. So, therefore, the
unchanged team must have had to be taken seriously:
Shashank Sivaji, from Southend-on-Sea,
studying Medicine
Alexander Suebsaeng, from London,
studying Medicine
Captain: Rebecca Smoker, from County
Kildare, studying Medicine
Sam Mindel, from London, studying
Medicine
Lancaster,
like James and co, came through the repechage, losing to Pembroke College
Cambridge (who are through to the semis), before pulling off a shock win over
the much fancied Lincoln College Oxford team in their play-off by 165-120. They
remained the same as their two previous games:
Alan Webster, from Preston, studying Resource and Environmental Management
Alan Webster, from Preston, studying Resource and Environmental Management
Anne Kretzschmar,
from Chesterfield, studying Environmental Modelling
Captain: George
Pinkerton, from Surrey, studying History, Philosophy and PoliticsIan Dickson, from Stirling, studying Ecology and the Environment
So, who were the favourites tonight? St George’s defeated
a team that went on to do very impressively, while Lancaster defeated a previously impressive side, but they
also lost a match. If you wanted a tip from me, I’d probably have gone for St
George’s.
So, of course, Lancaster got the first starter, but no
bonuses. St George’s pounced back, but no bonuses. Two incorrect interruptions
then reduced St George’s score back to zero, but not for long, thanks to
another starter.
But it was Lancaster who had the momentum, with Mr Pinkerton scoring some very quick and impressive buzzes. By the music round, on classical singers performing pop, they led by 90-50.
But it was Lancaster who had the momentum, with Mr Pinkerton scoring some very quick and impressive buzzes. By the music round, on classical singers performing pop, they led by 90-50.
But then Lancaster incurred two successive penalties, which allowed St George’s to sneak through into the lead. A full set of bonuses on national sports took them into a strong lead, and seemed to trigger a shift in momentum, with Messrs Suebsaeng and Mindel generally swapping starters. By the second picture round, St George’s had pulled out a lead of 145-80.
So, could Lancaster emulate James and co’s impressive fightback from last week? They tried: George Pinkerton got another starter, and the bonuses bought them up to 100. But Messrs Suebsaeng and Mindel were now in their stride, and weren’t going to let Lancaster catch up. Lancaster did manage to equal their score from their first round match, but St George’s were now well ahead. At the gong, the Medics won by 230-140.
A good performance from St George’s, who have two good
players in the form of Messrs Suebsaeng and Mindel, both of whom got six
starters; as Dave Clark has noted over on LAM, having more than one standout
player is a good strength, as, should one have an off-day, you have fallback. The
Medics managed 20 bonuses out of 39 with two early penalties. George Pinkerton
also finished the match with six starters, which helped his side to 14 out of
24 bonuses, also with two penalties. His side performed well in their three
matches, and it’s a shame to see them go.
University Challenge now takes a break for the festive season. Next Monday, a new series of Christmas University Challenge begins, and continues all week. I will not be giving in depth reviews, but I will post a summary of the weeks’ games at the weekend (I hope).
University Challenge now takes a break for the festive season. Next Monday, a new series of Christmas University Challenge begins, and continues all week. I will not be giving in depth reviews, but I will post a summary of the weeks’ games at the weekend (I hope).
Only Connect saw its third place play-off tonight. And
also one of my favourite questions ever: Ms Coren listed four things, including
UC legend Alex Guttenplan, in her intro as things she is not allowed within 100
yards of (allegedly!), and those four things formed the picture question for
the sequences round! Very clever work.
And finally, my congratulations to our good friend Dave Clark of LAM, who announced the other day that he is going to become a grandfather for the first time. Many congrats to him!
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ReplyDeleteA good win by St. George's - watching this made me feel better about losing to them!
ReplyDeleteLooks like the next episode will be on January 7th, so that the Quarter-Finals will begin on the first Monday of February. The Xmas Uni Challenge won't be on in Christmas week itself. Has been OK so far - low scores as I'd expected but the questions seem of a similar level to those of the main show, so it's not too surprising. I'm hoping that one or two teams will have University Challenge veterans (like last year's Christodoulou v. Bhattacharyya) though just to spice things up.
Highlight of the first two rounds was the music starter on Carols, when I called out "Mendelssohn - Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" before they'd even put the track on!