Evening all. Apologies that I now have an OC backlog, will make up for it with a double bill this week, last week's show tomorrow, tonight's on Thursday. From now, I am fairly confident I can do Tuesday reviews every week, but we shall see. On with tonight's match, two more teams beginning their QF campaign, the winners need one more victory to progress, the runners-up would need two and couldn't afford another defeat.
St John's College Cambridge eased through the first two rounds, with victories over two strong teams, St Andrews in the first round by 255-120, and Corpus Christi of Cambridge in the second 285-80. Hoping for more of the same tonight were the unchanged four of:
John-Clark Levin, from Los Angeles, studying Politics and International Studies
Rosie McKeown, from Kingston-upon-Thames, studying French and German
Captain: James Devine-Stoneman, from Southall in London, studying Superconducting Spintronics
Matt Hazell, from Ringwood in Hampshire, studying Veterinary Medicine
Ulster came here through the repechage, just getting pipped at the post by Edinburgh in the first round, then easing past St Anne's of Oxford 175-90 in their play-off, and bookinh a QF berth by winning a cracking second rounder against Warwick 170-140. They too were unchanged from the earlier rounds:
Cathal McDaid, from Buncrana in County Donegal, studying English Literature
Kate Ritchie, from Waringstown in County Armagh, studying Fine Art
Captain: Ian Jack, from Peterhead, studying Pharmacy
Matthew Milliken, from Comber in County Down, studying Education
Off we set again then, and Mr Levin got the night's ball rolling with 'Lee'; a full bonus set on writers who served in the UK parliament gave them a full set to start the match. A penalty then gave Ulster a chance to kick off, which they couldn't take. Ms McKeown took the next starter with 'Tristan and Isolde' and two bonuses came with it. Another starter went Ms McKeown's way, and bonuses on CERN projects gave the Cambridge side just the one correct bonus this time. The first picture round, on alliterative geographical features, went to St John's, who took two bonuses again, giving them an early lead of 75-0.
That lead just got bigger as Mr Levin took the next starter, and bonuses on foreign language films provided them with ten more points. Mr Devine-Stoneman now made up for his earlier mistake, unlocking a topical bonus set on women's suffrage, of which they took just the one. Asked to answer in either English or French, Mr Levin chose the former, correctly; two bonuses followed this time. Already looking well out of sight, the Cambridge side's lead just increased when Ms McKeown answered 'Poland', and one bonus came with it.
The music round, on covers by Ella Fitzgerald, finally allowed Ulster to get some points on the board; they took one of the music bonuses, reducing their arrears to 150-15. Ms Ritchie took a second starter in a row though for the Northern Ireland side though, and they took a full bonus set on the Book of Judges. Ms Ritchie then took a second starter in a row, but bonuses on volcanoes proved less fruitful, with nothing coming from it. (I got the Philippines) Another starter went Ulster's way, as did a full house on organic chemistry, and suddenly they were back within sight.
The second picture round, on stills from drama series directed by prolific movie directors, went to Ulster, who took just one bonus, but had now cut the gap to 150-90. When Mr Devine-Stoneman took the next correct answer though, you suspected that was as close as they could get; the Cambridge side took one correct bonus.
Or maybe not; Ms Ritchie took the next starter, and her side into triple figures, and a full bonus set on UK cities kept them just in the hunt. But when Mr Devine-Stoneman took the next starter, that was game over; two correct bonuses on the English Civil War only served to boost their score. Ulster did take the final starter, and one bonus on Italian composers, and that was the gong; St John's won, 185-130.
A good match of two halves, St John's running riot in the first half, but Ulster recovered nicely in the second half. Unlucky Ulster, but a fine recovery in the circumstances, and very best of luck in the elimination round. Well done St John's though on another good showing against good opponents, and best of luck in the qualifiers!
The stats: Mr Levin was, just, the best buzzer of the night, with four starters to the three, of Ms McKeown, Mr Devine-Stoneman and Ulster's best Ms Ritchie. On the bonuses, St John's converted 18 out of 30 (with the night's one penalty), while Ulster managed 12 out of 21; similar rates, so it was, again, a match won on the buzzer, with St John's winning the match with their flying start.
Next week's match: Emmanuel vs Edinburgh, followed, I would imagine, by Newcastle vs Merton in the first qualifier.
Right, Only Connect double bill coming up, last week's tomorrow and tonight's on Thursday. I hope.
Was it me or were the questions particularly hard tonight? Ulster come across as being nice guys. I did notice, and this isn't reflected in the conversion stats, Ulster took some time in the collections, perhaps where they should have passed and taken a risk on another starter. This kind of seems to have been their playing style in other matches but I suspect at this stage of the game that doesn't quite work as well - it did though deny St John's a lot of space and I note this was the lowest total score of the quarter finals so far. Being able to have a look at John's and Merton in succession, my pendulum swings towards Merton, but both seem quite far ahead of much of the opposition. Ulster could still be contenders, I'd wager. Next weeks could go either way, I might slightly favour Edinburgh!
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