University Challenge 2020-21: Round 2: Match 2: Manchester vs Strathclyde

Good evening friends, and welcome back to University Challenge: Socially Distant Edition! It's rare that a team that comes through the repechage goes further in the contest than the team that beat them in the first round; last time it happened was in the 2011-12 series. After tonight, it either would've happened or be on the verge of happening, as the two teams that defeated the two play-off winners, one of whom is already through, were playing.

Manchester defeated Edinburgh in the penultimate first round match, leading throughout and ultimately winning 200-155. Playing their sub tonight, the new look line-up comprised of: 

Ralph Scott, from Aberystwyth, studing Politics

Vinh Le Ngoc, from Waterlooville in Hampshire, graduated in Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Captain: Alex Spacey, from Fareham in Hampshire, studying History

Andrew Snedden, from Godalming, studying Neuromuscular Disease

 

Strathclyde defeated last week's winners Imperial in the first round, a match they also led throughout with an eventual win by 190-155. They were unchanged from that time around: 

Cameron Welsh, from Glasgow, studying Statistics

David Curran, from Glasgow, studying Civil Engineering

Captain: James Whittle, from Glasgow, studying Power Systems

Tom Starr-Marshall, from London, studying Speech and Language Therapy

 

So off we set again, and it was Mr Spacey who struck first with 'Magnificent'; bonuses on berries resulted in just one correct answer. Strathclyde were off the mark quickly too with Mr Welsh doing the honours, but they could also take just one bonus. A dropped starter preceded another starter to Mr Welsh and single bonus to Strathclyde; that in turn preceded the first picture round, on countries superimposed onto their antipodal position on a map. The Scots side also took that, and another sole bonus gave them a lead of 45-15.

Manchester awoke again with Mr Spacey on the money again, but the bonus struggles both teams were having continued, none correct this time. Two successive starters gave Manchester the lead, but just the one bonus came from the first set, and none on the second set on the thirteen colonies. The music round, on operas that premiered at the Fenice Opera House in Venice, also went to Manchester on what Mr Scott admitted was a complete guess; just one bonus again gave them a lead of 65-45.

And it increased when Mr Snedden took the next starter, and the bonuses finally fell nicely for them, two on Christina Rosetti. Back awoke Strathclyde with Mr Welsh again, and they went one better with a full set on medical terms beginning with an F. Mr Starr-Marshall gave the Scots side a second starter in a row, but the bonus trouble came back with a vengeance, none on artistic movements. A third in a row gave Strathclyde the lead, and they managed one bonus this time. The second picture round, on stills from a director's first film in English, went to Manchester; one bonus gave them back the lead, 100-95.

But Strathclyde duly took it back with Mr Welsh once again doing the honours, giving them a bonus set on VAT, of which they took two correct answers. And when Mr Starr-Marshall took the next starter, and another two bonuses were coverted, that was game over. Neither side took the final starter, on the Twitter term 'ratio', which I still don't entirely understand despite having seen it multiple times, and that was the gong; Strathclyde won 135-100.

A low scoring contest, but a nice one between two good teams nonetheless, shame this was a knockout match. Well done to Strathclyde, the first team from there to reach the QFs, best of luck to them there! Hard lines to Manchester, but an OK performance to go out on, thanks for playing!

The stats: Mr Welsh was, just, the best buzzer of the night, with five starters to Mr Spacey's four. On the bonuses, Manchester managed 6 out of 21 and Strathclyde 11 out of 24.

Next week's match: don't know yet, but will retweet anything I find. I would guess we'll be seeing Edinburgh again sooner rather than later.

Only Connect, at its earlier time (which is gonna wreck havoc with my Monday night viewing schedule when Mastermind comes back), ended its first round matches with the Polyhymnians, Victoria and Jeremy Woods and captain James Fraser, and the Sandy Shores, Susie Thomas, John Caddick and captain Martin Hoskins. A well-matched match at first, the Shores led 4-2 after the first round, and 7-6 after the second. A better wall increased the lead to 17-12, but a better final round saw the Polyhymnians sneak a come from behind win 21-20!