OK, sorry once again for the long wait, but I've got a spare moment now, so, here's a very short summary of what happened in the second Only Connect semi two weeks ago, and the Grand Final a week ago.
The second semi-final first, which was won comfortably by the Francophiles (Ian Clark, Mark Walton and Sam Goodyear), beating the Cartophiles (Colin Kidd, Josh Mandel and Mark Cooper) by 29-19. It wasn't easy to start with, with the Cartophiles leading after the first round. But then in the second round, the Francophiles pulled away. Both sides got a full ten on their walls, but the Francophiles were now comfortably ahead, and maintained their lead in the final round.
Which set up a France vs Wales final, with the Francophiles taking on the Celts (Beverley Downes, Hugh Pritchard and David Pritchard, the last two of whom are not related we are informed). Both had made it to the final undefeated, winning three matches each, so little was between them on paper. However, the Francophiles had two comfortable wins under their belts (the second round, and the semi-final), whereas the Celts had only won comfortably once, in their semi-final. Whatever the case, it would be a good final.
In the event, the Celts got off to the stronger start, leading 5-1 after the first round. The Francophiles managed to close the gap somewhat in the second round, but still trailed slightly going into the walls. And here came the turnaround, as the Celts only got two points, and the Francophiles got seven, which was enough to give them the slender lead.
Clearly, the final would be decided on the buzzer in the final missing vowels round. It started off close, but the Francophiles just had the edge on the buzzer once again, as they have had in most of their final rounds. At the end of the show, the Francophiles had won by 22-14. But it was much closer than that suggests.
Anyway, well done to Ian Clark, Mark Walton and Sam Goodyear, who are deserving winners of the series. But well done too to the Celts, who would've been as well. And well done to all the teams who took part in this series. I hope the new format is maintained, as it is definitely suitable for the show.
I'll be back this evening with a review of tonight's UC.
No comments:
Post a Comment