Evening all. So, the last quarter-final of the series, and quite possibly the last I cover on this blog for a while, as I am still undecided about whether I am going to take the next series off. Tonight, a fixture that many would call a foregone conclusion at the start of the round, in spite of one team's last outing seeing them beaten by a much bigger margin than might have been expected.
Trinity College Cambridge beat Durham (already in the semis) in the first round, Lady Margaret Hall of Oxford in the second and Manchester in the preliminaries, but their qualifier saw them lose 245-80 to Corpus Christi. Hoping for a prompt bounce back were the unchanged foursome of:
Nadia Hourihan, from Dublin, studying English
Lillian Crawford, from Bearsted in Kent, studying History
Captain: Joseph Webber, from Bury St Edmunds, studying Maths
Liam Hughes, from Cardiff, studying Maths
Jesus College Oxford lost their first match to Manchester, beat Sheffield to come through the play-offs, overcame Birmingham in the second round, lost their prelim to Durham, then recovered again by beating Courtauld 135-90 in the eliminators. They were also unchanged from before:
Lucy Clarke, from Ottershaw in Surrey, studying Early Modern History
James Cashman, from Guildford, studying History
Captain: Matt Cook, from Wellington, New Zealand, studying PPE
Miranda Stevens, from Sevenoaks, studying Biology
Off we set again then, and the match kicked off with both sides guessing a literary figure buried in Poet's Corner, and neither guessing correctly. Mr Hughes got things going properly with a nice cryptic question about presidents of the USA who share their names with UK locations; the Cambridge side opened with a full bonus set on scientific events of 1920. A forebodingly quick buzz from Mr Webber pushed Trinity further ahead, giving them a bonus set on menages a trois, of which they got just the one (I got Laurence Olivier). A question that is now out of date (but forgivably, unlike that Bob Dylan howler a couple of years back) went to Mr Hughes, and another full set of bouses was quickly hoovered up. Mr Cook did the right thing and had an early punt on the next starter, but was wrong, allowing Mr Hughes the points again; another full set added to Jesus' misery. The first picture round, on stadiums that were meant to host the Euros this summer but will now do so next summer instead, allowed Jesus to get off the mark; a full set reduced their gap to 90-20.
Ms Hourihan quickly resumed Trinity's dominance with a quick buzz of 'Gilead' on the next starter; one bonus on words derived from American indigenous langauges followed. And the Cambridge side weren't letting up, Mr Hughes very quickly getting the next starter and Paxo not being allowed to complete two of the bonuses as they quickly swept up another full set. Mr Cashman pulled back for Jesus by identifying the decade when various listed events happened as the 1850s; no bonuses on Ancient Persia were taken though, and a penalty added to their problems. Mr Webber took the points, and bonuses on serendipity gave the Cambridge side yet another full set, and, already, you'd have to say, they looked well out of reach.
The music round, on pop songs whose title doesn't get sung until the final verse, went to Trinity; another full set increased their lead to 180-25. Both sides guessed a breed of toy dog for the next starter, but neither guessed Pomeranian; a second starter in a row also fell by the wayside, a rather complicated maths one that both teams appeared to be guessing. Mr Cashman finally got some points on the board by naming his favourite cheese spread, Philadelphia; just one bonus fell for the Oxonians however. Mr Webber was back in for Trinity with 'cement', giving a bonus set on Indian states, two of which took them to 200 points. Neither side identified the birth place of Samuel Eto'o for the next starter; Ms Clarke took the next for Jesus, and two bonuses on George Orwell ensured we wouldn't be getting a second inductee into the Sub-50 club in as many weeks.
The second picture round, on artworks from the 20th century depicting New York City, went to Trinity; one bonus took the scores to 215-60. It was now just a question of how high both teams could get; Mr Hughes won the race to the buzzer to say 'midnight' for the next starter, and one bonus on astronomy just added to their total.
Ms Hourihan identified David as the painter of works featuring various listed subjects for the next starter (Socrates, as in The Death of, being the giveaway); again, just one bonus, on African geography, was taken. Mr Hughes pushed the Cambridge side within sight of a 200 point lead by taking the next starter, giving them a bonus set on fictional countries, of which they took two, including a welcome mention of Chaplin's The Great Dictator. Another very quick buzz from Ms Hourihan gave Trinity a bonus set on people who were assassinated (JR was not one of them!); they got nothing from these, offering the wrong Tsar Alexander and suggesting William Wallace was King of Scotland! Ms Stevens pulled one last starter back for Jesus with a well anticipated quick buzz, and one bonus gave the Oxford side a more respectable score. The last starter went to Mr Hughes, and that was the gong; Trinity won 285-75.
Another enjoyable contest, despite it being so one-sided. Unlucky Jesus, but, as Paxo said, no shame in going out at this stage, and a fine series of performances to fall back on, thanks very much indeed for playing. Very well done Trinity though, and very best of luck in the semi-finals!
The stats: Mr Hughes was comfortably the best buzzer of the night with seven starters, while Mr Cashman was best for Jesus with two, though Ms Clarke was their best of the series overall with 19. On the bonuses Trinity converted a good 27 out of 42, while Jesus managed 7 out of 15 (with two penalties).
Next week's match: the first semi-final. I would guess Corpus Christi vs Durham and Imperial vs Trinity would be the fixtures, but we shall see. A full preview will be coming later in the week.
Only Connect concluded tonight with a most enjoyable grand final between the 007s and the Suits; a review of that will also be coming up in the coming days.
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