Well, it's Monday night, so it must be University Challenge time. Tonight's winners would need just one more QF victory to go through to the semis, the runners-up would need two and couldn't afford another loss.
Cardiff got off to a slow start, beating Exeter 145-95 in a low scoring first match, but they proved their worth in the second match beating the very good Liverpool team 230-145. So, the underdogs tonight, but clearly not to be underestimated, and they were the same four as before:
Eleri Evans, from Pembrokeshire, studying Maths
Sara Caputo, from Torino in Italy, studying History
Captain: Roderick Lawford, from Barking, studying Music, Culture and Politics
Tom Parry-Jones, from St Asaph, studying Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies
SOAS were one of the standout teams of the first round, beating out friends Southampton 230-155, and then went on to defeat the good Reading team 240-90 in the second round. Clearly, this unchanged foursome were going to be tough to beat:
Maeve Weber, from Knebworth in Hertforshire, studying Ancient Near East Studies
Luke Vivian-Neal, from Lusaka in Zambia, studying Chinese
Captain: Peter McKean, from Wallington in South London, studying African History
James Figueroa, from Surrey, studying African Studies and Development Studies
So, on paper, you have to say SOAS had all the advantages over Cardiff. But, of course, matches aren't played on paper. Otherwise, Cardiff wouldn't be in this match.
SOAS got off to a good start, with Maeve Weber buzzing in on the first five starters of the night, and getting three of them correct! Cardiff incurred a penalty on one of the other two. Like in previous matches, most of the bonuses accompanied the starters. Peter McKean took over for the next two starters, including the picture starter. After the bonuses, on cities in Czechoslovakia, SOAS's lead stood at 95-(-5).
Already, Cardiff looked in deep trouble. They had to let two chances to get into the game pass, before Peter McKean resumed his buzzer brilliance for SOAS. Rather unusually, the side dropped all the resultant bonuses. Sara Caputo finally broke Cardiff into the game courtesy of WH Auden; Paxo's "what a relief" remark came just moments after mine! Luke Vivian-Neal resumed normal service for SOAS, but, again, no bonuses went with it.
Both teams identified the Arctic Monkeys for the music starter, but neither knew the album the song was from. A second Cardiff penalty halved their score, allowing SOAS to take the music bonuses, on pop songs inspired by works of literature. One bonus raised their lead to 125-5.
Tom Parry-Jones bought Cardiff back into the game, but the side could only follow it up with one bonus, a stark contrast to their good bonus showing in previous matches. Roderick Lawford managed another starter for Cardiff shortly afterwards, and again, one bonus was converted via (what looked like) a complete guess. The second picture round was on depictions of Ancient Greek pairings; SOAS took the starter, and two bonuses, increasing their lead to 165-35.
So now it was just a question of how much further either side could get in terms of scores. Cardiff managed to string two starters together, but only two of the resultant six bonuses went with it. Peter McKean took his sixth starter of the night, and two bonuses went with it. Tom Parry-Jones managed a late flurry, with two starters in a row; while just one bonus went with it, it was enough to haul the side to respectability.
Final points of the match went to SOAS, and at the gong, they had the win, 200-90. Not much to say about that match; SOAS managed a well deserved win and Cardiff managed a respectable score. We shall see how they get on in their next match to stay in the contest. I'd say SOAS weren't as impressive this time as they were before, but still another good showing from them, and I'd still say they should be taken seriously.
On the buzzer, Peter McKean was the night's best with six starters, while Tom Parry-Jones' efforts earned him four starters. The Welsh side could only manage 6 bonuses out of 21 this time (with two penalties), a big step down from their good showing before, but this could just be a blip; we shall see. SOAS converted 17 out of 35 (with one penalty), which, while still decent, is also a step back from their previous showing. They may well run into Trinity next; now that'd be a good match in some way!
Two more preliminaries before we start sending though/eliminating teams. No word on the draw for next week yet; we shall see where things take us next.
Although I knew from the time that I was up at the studios for the quarter-final experience that this game was a SOAS victory, I didn’t expect that it would turn out like this! That SOAS won was not a shock by any means, but I was anticipating more of a landslide than what we actually saw.
ReplyDeleteA few thoughts spring to mind about the possible implications of this result: SOAS struggled with their bonuses more than they have done in previous games, so if they have to fight Trinity to go through to the semis (which they may well have to do, if last year’s order of play is anything to go by), they might have a hard time of it. If the other four quarter-finalists find themselves on roaring form, as Trinity and Manchester did last week, SOAS may start to look like underdogs for progression; on the other hand, if some of the other big-hitters to come score less well than in previous games, it’s still all to play for. My instinct predicts that we will see some more struggling in the near future, because the questions on offer so far in the quarters have been much harder than what’s gone before.
As for Cardiff, I was very pleased for them that they managed to rally to 90 after being buzzed almost into oblivion in the first half. The bonuses have been their strong suit in the first two rounds, but they couldn’t keep it up this time, unfortunately, so they could be in serious danger now – particularly if their survival match is against Manchester.
A few questions stood out for me for varying reasons this week. The first picture starter was a refreshingly easy one, compared to many of the other starters in the show, but I feel I should call Paxo to task for his description of 2013 as “the 20th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution”. The Velvet Revolution was the peaceful Czechoslovak uprising of 1989 that led to the resignation of the entire Communist government, whereas what Paxo was referring to was the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, which I’ve heard referred to as the Velvet Divorce. They’re two separate events! The fall of Communism and its aftermath are one of my absolute favourite areas of history to read about, so I couldn’t help but notice this, and I apologise for the pedantry that accompanies my QI-viewer-mindset!
Then later on in the match, SOAS got a bonus set on exponentiation in mathematics. I wonder if this was the set that Paxo was trying to introduce in the final seconds of their first round match against us, when he stumbled over his words and got interrupted by the gong?
On the subject of next week’s match: I won’t spoil the surprise of who is in it, but I will say that we’re not in it. When we were backstage and we found out who would be in next week’s match, we were extremely intrigued at once…
Well, they do say that the quarter-finals and onwards are harder, and on the evidence of this they seem to be telling the truth - SOAS (162), Cardiff (95). I'm not ready to discount SOAS quite yet, though - we'll see if this is just a blip.
ReplyDeletepresumably SOAS will be playing Trinity in the next stage? I'd expect Trinity to win based on the two performances, but it seemed to me that the question set for SOAS was a bit on the tough side, so maybe they got unlucky with the way the questions fell. Each match is a different one so I could end up being in for a bit of a shock after all.
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