Evening all. Well, we're nearly there: the penultimate match of the series tonight, with the winners playing Corpus Christi in next week's grand final. As with last week, it would be a close match to call were it not for the fact that one team had a surprisingly heavy loss to its name in the run-up, but either would be deserving finalists.
Imperial College London got to the semis for the first time in ten series by beating Brasenose of Oxford in the first round, St John's of Oxford in the second, Courtauld in the preliminaries, and in their qualifier, they beat fellows SFists Durham 185-115. They were unchanged from those prior matches:
Richard Brooks, from Stockton-on-Tees, studying Mechanical Engineering
Brandon, from Jamaica, Queens in New York City, studying Computing
Captain: Caleb Rich, from Lewisham, studying Controlled Quantum Dynamics
Connor McMeel, from Dublin, studying Computer Science
Trinity College Cambridge also beat Durham, in the first round, then Lady Margaret Hall of Oxford in the second and Manchester in the prelims, but then they lost to Corpus Christi in the qualifiers; they recovered from that with a 285-75 win over Jesus in the play-offs. They too were the same four as before:
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
Off we set again then, and the mononymous Brandon set the scoring rolling for the night with 'aardvark' (sadly no mention of Otis); a full set of bonuses showed that the Londoners meant business here tonight. Both sides missed the next starter, with Imperial losing five, before Mr Brooks recouped the lost points, but the side got nothing from a bonus set on astronomy. Two starters were then dropped completely without even a buzz, before Brandon reawoke procedings and earned his side a bonus set on Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, of which they took two. The first picture round, on the names of plays by Aristophanes in their original Greek, went to Imperial; two more correct answers gave them a lead of 70-0.
Mr Webber finally got his side on the board by recognising 'Cavendish' as the surname linking the people listed; words formed when currencies are written backwards made for a classic UC set, and the Cambridge side had a full house. Mr Hughes then gave Trinity a second starter in a row, and a pair of bonuses put them back in the hunt. But up jumped Imperial again as Brandon identified the Emperor Hadrian; a set of bonuses on maths gave the Londoners a full house and reestablished their hold on proceedings.
The music round, on pieces by composers whose work was championed by Sir Thomas Beecham, went to Imperial; just the one bonus was taken, but they had increased their lead to 110-45. And it was just getting bigger as Brandon was first in to identify 'Rob Roy', resulting a bonus set on artists and murder, including the old QI fave about Caravaggio accidentally killing a man during a fight over a tennis match; two of these were taken. Back came with Trinity with a second for Mr Hughes; two bonuses were quickly taken (I got the one they didn't get). A penalty then handed Imperial possession again though; Brandon picked up the drop, and, though they got nothing from the bonuses, unless Trinity ran the show from now on, you suspected they were now over the event horizon.
The second picture starter was missed by both teams; the bonuses, on artworks depicting a male muse, went to Imperial; just one bonus followed again, taking their lead to 155-60. And when Trinity lost five on the next starter for a borderline interruption, and Brandon picked up the points, that was game over; one bonus on Audrey Hepburn followed.
Mr Rich confirmed the win for sure by identifying Maltese as the EU language closest to Arabic; Schroedinger's cat in fiction provided the Londoners with another two correct answers. It was all academic now, but Imperial weren't stopping, as Brandon took the next starter, and bonuses on Chinese poetry were duly swept up, a full set. Another very quick buzz saw Brandon enter the small club of UC players to get into double digits for starters in a single match; two bonuses were taken. Trinity went out on a roll, Mr Hughes taking two final starters, and one bonus from the one set there was time for being converted. At the gong, Imperial won 235-80.
Another good match despite it's one sidedness. Unlucky Trinity, but, as Paxo said, nothing wrong with going out at the semi-finals, especially after such a good prior run, thanks very much indeed for taking part! Very very well done Imperial though, another storming performance, setting up, what should be, a great final next week, very very best of luck in it!
The stats: Brandon was, by far and away, the best buzzer of the night with TEN(!) starters, while Mr Hughes was best for Trinity with four, ending his side's run their best buzzer with a total of 34. On the bonuses, Imperial converted 22 out of 39 (with one penalty), while Trinity managed 8 out of 12 (with two penalties).
Next week's match: the final, Corpus Christi vs Imperial. A fuller preview will be coming later in the week.
No comments:
Post a Comment