Evening all. Well, the snow that's been causing a great deal of trouble up here finally seems to have gone away thanks to a day of half-heavy rain, so we can finally get back to normal service as far as my life outside Quizzy Mondays is concerned. On, therefore, to the first eliminator quarter-final of this year's UC; runners-up would bow out, winners would stay on for the play-offs for a shot at the semis.
Bristol reached the group stage fairly comfortably with victories over Trinity of Cambridge and Trinity of Oxford, but came unstuck in the preliminaries where they lost 225-130 to Newcastle after a late sprint from the opposition. Looking to recover from that tonight were the unchanged four of:
Ollie Bowes, from Market Harborough, studying Music
Kirsty Biggs, from Southampton, studying Maths
Captain: Sam Hosegood, from Bedford, studying Chemical Physics
Dom Hewett, from Stroud, studying English
Ulster came through the repechage, narrowly losing to fellow quarter-finalists Edinburgh, then beating St Anne's of Oxford and Warwick to reach the group stage, where they lost to St John's in their prelim, despite a good fightback in the final minutes. Also looking to press on were the also unchanged line-up of:
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 a prompt buzz from Mr Biggs got the ball rolling for the night; his side firmly put their stall out with a full bonus set on Nobel literature winners. Mr Hewett then added the second starter of the night, but just the one bonus went with it this time. A good starter then asked which planet's name can be spelt using some of the first letters of all the planets' names, if that makes sense; Mr Hosegood identified it as Venus, and the side added two further bonuses to their score with it. The first picture round, on cities vulnerable to a rise in sea levels, went to Bristol, with Ulster dropping five on a replacement starter; two bonuses were taken, giving the Avonsiders a lead of 80-(-5).
A classic UC starter, chemical number arithmetic, was then taken by Mr Hosegood, which gave his side a 100 point lead with the bonuses. Mr Milliken broke Ulster's duck with 'Rodin's The Kiss', but the side were unable to take any of the resultant bonuses on Russia. Bristol resumed normal service thanks to Mr Bowes, and took two bonuses, unluckily missing out on the third. Neither side identified the colour Sorrel, which I mainly know as the name of contestants on an early Weakest Link and a late DoND; Mr Hewett had the next correct answer, and one bonus on the human brain followed.
Neither side recognised Alan Menken's score for Disney's Little Mermaid for the music starter; the bonuses, on other Disney scores by Mr Menken, went to Ulster, but they couldn't take any of them (I managed two and a half), which left them trailing 125-15. A slip-up from Bristol allowed them to take a second successive starter though, but the bonuses, on French directories, once again failed to add to their score. A prompt buzz from Mr Bowes reawoke his side, and two bonuses put the match out of realistic reach. Mr Hosegood made sure when he took 'ecology' for the next starter, and they took just the one bonus this time on the work of Greta Garbo.
The second picture round, on tennis players who have courts named after them, went to Ulster, who took two bonuses, which left the score at 155-45. Another Bristol starter, taken by Ms Biggs, only really added to Bristol's score, as did one bonus on literary characters with three letter surnames. The match was long done and dusted now, but could Ulster avoid joining the Sub-50 club?
Alas, not, as Bristol saw out the remaining starters, Mr Hewett taking 'Bangladesh' for the next, and one bonus on French painters following. Mr Hosegood was next in, but bonuses on India provided them with no further points, not that it mattered by now. Mr Hewett took the final starter, but there was no time for any bonuses; at the gong, Bristol won 205-45.
An entertaining match, despite being rather one-sided. Unlucky Ulster, but no shame in going out in this stage, after a very respectable and entertaining series of performances, thanks very much for giving us them! Well done Bristol though, on another strong win over good opponents, and best of luck in the play-offs!
The stats: Messrs Hosegood and Hewett were joint best buzzers of the night, with four each, while Messrs Jack and Milliken taking two each for Ulster, Mr Jack ends their campaign their best buzzer, with seventeen over five matches. On the bonuses, Bristol converted 16 out of 36, while Ulster managed just 2 out of 12, with both sides incurring one penalty.
Next week's match: Merton vs Edinburgh
Only Connect had its first eliminator match tonight too, though of course they do it in a different order to UC; blog of that hopefully done this week.
Ulster were a good laugh, I've been something of a critic but now I'm sorry to see it end. I am glad to see from twitter that they enjoyed themselves. Think their conversion rate starting biting at this stave in the game. As you said Bristol set out their stall and by jove they didn't let up. They are very much still in it. Next week should be good!
ReplyDelete