Good evening folks, and welcome back! The second qualification quarter-final tonight, between two teams who may have gone a bit under the radar compared to other teams in the QFs, but tonight, one of them would join Warwick in the semi-finals; the runners-up would join Magdalene and Imperial in a high quality line-up for the play-offs.
Balliol College Oxford got here after a low scoring first round win over Clare of Cambridge, a much higher scoring second round win over St John's of Cambridge, and then a 145-95 win over King's in the preliminaries. They were unchanged from that match:
Ben Tomasi, from Perth in Australia, graduated in Law
Solenne Scholefield, from Bath, studying Classics
Captain:
Michael O'Connor, from Blackheath in London, graduated in Philosophy
and Politics, about to start a graduate degree in Philosophy
Lily Crowther, from Royal Leamington Spa, studying History
Durham arrived at this match after a comfortable first round win over Leicester, a slightly closer second round win over Edinburgh, before their preliminary match saw them survive a late fightback to beat Strathclyde 155-115. They were also unchanged from before:
Harry Regan, from Sevenoaks, studying Liberal Arts
Tom Banbury, from Shipston-on-Stour in Warwickshire, studying History
Captain: Holly Parkinson, from Brighton, studying Physics
Thomas Wilkening, from Ramsgate, studying Biology
So off we set once again, and Ms Crowther opened the night by identifying 'O'Brien' as the surname linking various named persons; the Oxonians opened with two bonuses on locales whose names begin with P and end in A. Ms Crowther took a second starter in a row, and another two bonuses were taken, before Mr O'Connor took the third; just one bonus set from a second set on place names went this time. A penalty then allowed Durham to open their scoring, and they also took a sole bonus from their first set. Neither side took the first picture starter; the bonuses, on provinces which are part of multiple countries, went to Balliol, who drew a blank on them too, leaving the scores at 60-15.
Mr Regan took a second starter for Durham, and the Wearsiders took a single bonus on genetics. Ms Crowther then took the next starter, the answer to which was, ironically, the wrong answer she'd lost five for earlier! (Can't recall that happening before) Ms Scholefield gave the Oxonians a second starter in a row, and two bonuses took them into three figures. The music round, on classical pieces involving gardens, went to Balliol; a single correct bonus gave them a lead of 115-30.
A penalty gave Durham the chance to pull some points back, but they couldn't take it, and Balliol duly recouped the lost points with a starter and single bonus putting them a starter away from a three figure lead. But Mr Wilkening took the next starter to reawaken Durham; they also took just one bonus on snow and ice, a set which gave us a return of 'hoar', which you may recall wrongly came up on the show a while back! The puerile humour continued as Ms Scholefield correctly supplied 'FO' for the next starter(!), and two bonuses gave them that 100 point lead. The second picture round, on carte de visites of abolitionists, went to Balliol; two correct took their lead to 165-45.
The game was long over as a contest, just a question of how high the teams could get. A penalty from Balliol allowed Durham to avoid joining the Sub 50 club, and the Wearsiders took two bonuses on particle colliders used by CERN. Mr Banbury took a second starter in a row, but bonuses on English waterfalls failed to add to their score. Mr O'Connor took the final starter for Balliol, and the Oxonians ended the night with a single bonus from a tricky set asking who was US president when various listed works were created. And that was the gong; Balliol won 175-75.
A lower scoring match than of late, but a good one still, played in good spirit by both teams. Well done to Balliol on another good performance, and very best of luck in the semi-finals! And best of luck to Durham too in the play-offs.
The stats: Mr O'Connor was, again, the best buzzer of the night with five starters, while Mr Banbury was best for Durham with three. On the bonuses, Balliol managed 16 out of 33 (with three penalties) and Durham 5 out of 15.
Next week's match: Birkbeck vs Strathclyde
Only Connect reached its third QF,
with the Dungeon Masters vs the Barons, yet another avoidable rematch. The
latter narrowly led 4-3 after the first round, which extended to 9-5 after the
second. Two very difficult walls followed, with both teams only managing pickup
connection points; the Barons now led 11-8, but the Dungeon Masters fared
better in the final round to win 17-14.
Mastermind, meanwhile, was won by
Briony Havergill, who led by two points after the specialist round, before
ending the general knowledge round level with second place Sue Kendall on 16,
winning three passes to six. Stuart Mathieson and Trevor Abrahams finished two
and three further behind respectively.
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