University Challenge 2018-19: Semi-Final 1: Durham vs Edinburgh

Evening all. So, we're at the business end of the series, the first of the semi-finals. It's an instant rematch, as I said in my preview on Monday night, and a rematch that most would probably have expected to go the same way as the first one. There haven't been that many rematches in the Paxo era; of the ones I can think of, only a few went exactly the same as they did before. Would tonight be any different? Whatever the case, whoever won would be the first non-Oxbridge team in a UC final for seven years!

Durham breezed through the first two rounds via a record breaking win over Strathclyde in the first round, and then Keble of Oxford in the second. Their quarter-final campaign saw them comfortably beat Glasgow in their prelim, and then their opponents tonight in their qualifier. Aiming to reach their first grand final since the Millennium series were: 
Sian Round, from the Wirral, studying English   
Cameron Yule, from Harrow in London, studying English   
Captain: Matthew Toynbee, from South Derbyshire, studying Maths   
Ben Murray, from Davenham in Cheshire, studying Chemistry

Edinburgh reached the group stage via a comfortable win over Sidney Sussex of Cambridge and a narrow win over U.C.L.. They then beat Manchester in their prelim, and recovered from that loss in their qualifier with a win over Bristol in their play-off. Hoping to reach their first final since the 80s and be the first Scots finalists of the BBC era were: 
Matt Booth, from Bristol, studying Maths   
Marco Malusa, from Italy, studying Economics and Politics   
Captain: Max Fitz-James, from Burgundy, studying Cell Biology   
Robbie Campbell Hewson, from Edinburgh, studying Maths

Off we set again then, and an immediate slip-up from Edinburgh handed Durham the first starter of the night, and the Wearsiders took two bonuses on UNESCO's Kalinga Prize. The Scots team were quickly back into positive equity though, with Mr Fitz-James making up for his earlier error; bonuses on the work of archaeologist Marija Gimbutas gave them, also, two correct answers. They then took the lead thanks to Mr Booth, and another pair of bonuses accompanied. The first picture round, on graphs of the US S&P 500 index, went to Durham, who took, yep, two correct bonuses, which gave them back the lead, 40-35.

Another penalty from Edinburgh increased that lead, and more so when Mr Toynbee took the next starter; the sequence was then broken as Durham drew a blank on the resulting bonuses, on Chinese name elements. A second starter in a row went to the Durham captain, and bonuses on chair design proved a tad more to their liking, one correct there. Mr Campbell Hewson reawoke his side on the next starter, and a bonus set on swans gave us the comedy moment of the night with a remark of "geese aren't swans!"; two correct answers came.

The music round, on classical works that quote the melody of another, went to Edinburgh, who took yet another pair, which gave them the lead, 70-65. It increased when Durham slipped up on the next starter; Mr Campbell Hewson then pushed them further ahead when he took the next correct answer, and Edinburgh pushed their advantage firmly home with a full house. Mr Murray took his side back into the game with 'Ethiopia', and the Wearsiders bought themselves right back into the game with a full set of their own. Back came Edinburgh with Mr Campbell Hewson again doing the honours, and two bonuses on Welsh orthography put the Scots side into triple figures first.

Neither side identified the former Philippines president Corozan Aquino for the second picture round; the bonuses, on world leaders whose children were later elected to the same office, went to Durham, who took just one bonus, reducing the gap to 115-100. Still either team's game going into the home straight; Mr Fitz-James blinked first, identifying 'Moses' as the name linking various given clues; bonuses on writings about slavery gave Edinburgh, once again, two correct, putting them in the driving seat for the final minutes.

Back came Durham, Mr Yule offering 'Mahler', but the side quickly passed on all three bonuses (a wise tactic with time running short). Mr Fitz-James, though, then put one of his side's collective feet in the final with 'Incipit', and another two correct bonuses accompanied. And when Mr Campbell Hewson correctly offered 'Dunfermline' on the next correctly answered starter, that was game over; a full house confirmed this. The last two starters were dropped by both teams; at the gong, Edinburgh won 180-110.

A good semi-final, well played by both sides. Unlucky Durham, but no shame in going out now, especially after such a strong series of performances, thanks very much indeed for playing this series! Very very well done Edinburgh though, and very very very best of luck in the Grand Final match!

The stats: Messrs Fitz-James and Campbell Hewson were the joint best buzzers of the night with four each, while Messrs Yule and Toynbee were best for Durham with three each, Mr Toynbee ending the series their best buzzer with 19 over five games. On the bonuses, Durham converted 9 out of 21 (with one penalty), while Edinburgh managed 20 out of 27 (with two penalties), so it was a game won on both the buzzer and the bonuses there.

Next week's match: St Edmund Hall vs Darwin, with the winner playing Edinburgh in the final on Easter Monday!

Only Connect's final will be a week later, however, as, much to my delight, they are bringing back the third place play-off this series! Review of tonight's first semi-final on Wednesday I hope.