Well, who saw that coming?! Apart from the teams in the quarter-finals, obviously!
Downing College Cambridge easily defeated St John's College Oxford in the first round 260-115, and came joint fifth in the end of Round 1 rankings posted by Filip 'opaltiger' Drnovsek Zorko of the Trinity team. They were unchanged from the first round:
Tom Claxton, from Grantham, studying Natural Sciences
Georgina Phillips, from Shoreham-by-Sea, studying Geography
Captain: John Morgan, from Abingdon, studying Theoretical Chemistry
Tom Rees, from Guildford, studying Maths
By comparison, Queen's University Belfast narrowly won the first match of the series, beating Aberdeen by a low-scoring 140-105, and finished bottom in opaltiger's rankings. Very much the underdogs tonight were the unchanged team of:
Suzanne Cobain, from County Down, studying History
Gareth Gamble, from Lurgan in County Armagh, studying Medicine
Captain: Joseph Greenwood, from Manchester, studying Irish Theatre
Alexander Green, from Lytham in Lancashire, studying Plasma Physics
But matches aren't played on paper. Remember Bangor's victory of Durham last series?
Indeed, Queen's got off to the better start, with Gareth Gamble getting the first two starters of the match. The third was dropped, and Downing didn't get going until the fifth. The first picture round was on recipes from a cake cookbook by a Ms D Smith. Paxo seemed amazed when Gareth Gamble got the starter, and then, when the side failed on the bonuses, remarked that he would be postponing his trip to their place for tea! (According to UKGS, he has used that line before in the past)
Queen's currently led 70-10, and a fourth starter for Mr Gamble added to that lead. But Downing pulled back with the next starter, and a full set of bonuses showed that they could yet pull back the gap if they could string a good run together. Queen's were unlucky to miss one starter, not wording the answer quite right, allowing Downing to take the points.
The music round, on classical pieces used in sporting events, allowed Queen's to extend their lead to 115-50. Another unlucky miss handed Downing a starter, but that seemed like a blip, as Queen's were acing the buzzer race, and making a mockery of their afore-mentioned ranking. They has soon eclipsed their score from the heat, and their lead had reached three figures by the time of the second picture round.
I'm sure I'm not the only viewer who guessed Gormley when asked for a sculptor! Tom Rees of Downing said it too for ten points, but no bonuses followed, leaving the deficit at 170-80. And when Queen's took their lead back into three figures with the next starter, it looked like they had won the game. But Downing were still going to give it a go, ending the match with a run of starters, though, again, not many bonuses went with them. One set, on novels published in 1928, saw the side employ the tactic of saying the same answer to all three bonuses; on this occasion, it didn't work!
At the gong, Queen's had completed their surprise victory, 210-135. I wonder if this is the 'shock' Cromarty(IV) hinted at a couple of weeks ago. Bad luck Downing, who, as Paxo said, didn't seem as on form tonight, but he added that 135 is a respectable leaving score, which is also true. A good pair of showings. But very well done to Queen's for proving their worth, and best of luck next time!
The stats: Gareth Gamble got six starters for Queen's, five of which came before the music round, and the side converted 19 bonuses out of 36, with one penalty. John Morgan's four starters were the Cambridge side's best tally, and but only 9 bonuses out of 27 may well have contributed to that surprise loss.
I imagine this won't be the last 'shock' we see this year.
The annual Only Connect Children-in-Need special tonight. Didn't see much of it, but 'twas a very close one. Watch it, and you'll see what I mean.
Yeah, on a purely statistical note I expect we'll see more of this kind of upset - obviously one data point isn't nearly enough to accurately assess a team! I'd take my numbers with a pinch of salt for the second round, but past experience indicates that they ought to be reasonably good in the quarter finals and beyond.
ReplyDeleteIn this match in particular, I think it's obvious that QUB just had a bad day in their first match. Gamble only got one in that match and six in this one, for example, and their conversion was also much higher. Meanwhile, Downing's conversion plummeted, resulting in a score of 190 for QUB (average 149) and 131 for Downing (average 184).
QUB certainly put on a good performance this week, and they're deservedly through. I think they'll have to improve a little bit more to be on par with some of the other teams we've been seeing, though, particularly Somerville who, as the only other quarter finalist, I would say are the strongest team in the field at the moment.
Speaking of upsets, looking back over the past few years I've realised that the second round really is full of them. I think there are two reasons for that: one, first-round performance isn't a good judge of teams, because they're not used to the experience; and two, the second round is the only one where losing means you're out for good (well, not counting the finals, but if you've made those you presumably don't mind losing so much since you've already had a good run). I think that puts a lot of extra pressure on teams!
I have to say I really enjoyed this match – not that I don’t enjoy the show usually! It was good to see that Queen’s, Belfast were capable of a great performance when the questions fell their way. Gareth Gamble was undoubtedly the star of the show, with a brilliant starter tally, but his teammates also seemed to be much more on the money this time around. I agree that they still don’t look as strong as Somerville, but they could certainly trouble plenty of other teams. Perhaps they’re this year’s equivalent of last year’s Bangor quartet.
ReplyDeleteHard lines to Downing, though – they looked like they were having a bit of an off-day just when Queen’s were acing the buzzer races. Nevertheless, Downing will leave the competition with one very convincing victory under their belts, which is a good epitaph for any UC team. Since we know how good they are capable of being, this surely gives Queen’s a favourable rating for the quarter-finals – like Bangor last year, they’ve taken a high-profile killing and probably upset quite a few people’s calculations!
I can’t resist explaining that this game is a very historically significant one – it was the very last episode of any television show to be filmed at Granada Studios, thus ending UC’s 51-year association with the venue. If I’ve got my facts right, the York/Somerville and Downing/Queen’s second-round games were filmed in the same recording block as the first round (at Granada), while the repechage games were tagged onto the second-round block (at MediaCity). So Queen’s can take pride in being the last team to have won a Granada game, and you could say that Downing went down with Granada! That’s not a bad fate.
(In fact, if anyone saw the ITV documentary Goodbye Granadaland in June, you would have seen a few shots of two UC teams filming a game that was introduced as “the last ever program to be made at Granada”. Paxo elaborated a bit more on that remark, and the audience responded by showing their appreciation for the historic studios. In the clips, it’s quite clear that the two teams involved are Downing and Queen’s.)
Was this result my “biggest shock”, I hear you asking? Well, I’m afraid I’m going to say nothing more on the matter until we know the identities of all 8 quarter-finalists!
Just about the only two "bigger shocks" left would be either Manchester or Trinity, Cambridge losing. To Jack who writes this blog, I should say that I know very little if anything about what happens, so this is idle speculation, and if either (or both!) of those teams end up losing I didn't know this already. Indeed, based on comments by OpalTiger about his team mates "coming into their own" in the next match, I was rather expecting to see Trinity at least make the quarters.
DeleteIt's perhaps a bit late now, but I'm of the opinion that dropping hints about the future rounds, especially "one of the biggest shocks ever" is releasing just a bit too much information. There's a limit on what can count as a big shock, and the only team to reach 300 in two series losing their next match would certainly qualify. If that happens now I won't be quite as shocked as I would have been...
You should take things I say with a pinch of salt. I'm kind of terrible at this secrecy business, so I'm hyperaware of the risk of accidentally giving things away. To balance it out I have been deliberately misleading in the past. :P (Though I don't think I've ever outright lied.)
DeleteI would also point out that it's entirely possible for one to come into one's own while also losing. :D
Hmm...
DeleteWell between the two of you I'm rather hoping that you've lulled me into thinking that Trinity will lose when in fact they won't!