Good evening friends! Although it's a sombre mood in the quizzing world right now, after the revelation in yesterday's Weaver's Week that Bill McKaig, he of the 433 score on Fifteen-to-One, passed away a few months back; my condolences to his family and friends and anyone else who knew him. Tonight's UC would be between two of the teams I was hoping wouldn't be drawn against each other in the knockout round; the winners would go through and the runners-up could consider themselves unlucky to have been drawn against such good opponents so soon...
Edinburgh ran up by far the highest score of the first round as they soundly demolished Peterhouse of Cambridge 270-80. Hoping to continue in that form tonight were the unchanged four of:
Ben Russell Jones, from Cascade near Caerphilly (originally Bridgend), studying Philosophy and Politics
Lewis Thomas, from Strathkinnes in Fife, studying History
Captain: Rishi Sundar, from Manchester, studying Computational Physics
Al Karunaratne, from Hull, studying Physics
Bristol also looked a solid team in their first round match against Wolfson of Oxford, trailing at first before recovering in the second half to win 165-110. They were also the same four as before:
Alex Regueiro, from London, studying Philosophy of Physics
Sam Woodcock, from Birmingham, studying Geology
Captain: Seb Priest, from Lippstadt, Germany, studying Medicine
Anna Brian, from Tunbridge Wells, studying Economics
So off we set again, and Edinburgh started the match off in ominous form, with Mr Russell Jones taking the first starter, and Mr Karunaratne the second, and they took full points from both resulting bonus sets, on literature and Africa in 2011 respectively (I remember the Tunisian revolution being a question on the show ten years ago when it was still fresh in the mind, that's how long I've been doing this for now!) A third starter in a row went to the Scots side, but their impressive early form ran out as they only took one bonus on number theory. They also took the first picture round, on the opening lines of Shakespeare plays in German, after which they led 80-0.
Bristol finally got off the mark as Mr Woodcock identified goose barnacles for the next starter, and the Avonsiders opened their account with two bonuses on early prime ministers. Another starter and two bonuses to Bristol meant they had already halved their early deficit. Edinburgh reawoke again from Mr Russell Jones though, giving them a bonus set on ducks which they took just one of, just falling short of three figures. Back came Bristol with Mr Woodcock again doing the honours for them, and a fairly straight forward set of bonuses on Hinduism gave them a full house. The Avonsiders also took the music round, on opera arias sung by Leontyne Price; no bonuses followed, but they had now cut the gap to 95-75.
Mr Russell Jones then increased Edinburgh's lead with the next starter though, and two correct bonuses gave them a bit more room to breathe. And when Mr Thomas took the next starter, and another two bonuses were taken, it looked like they might be pulling away again. But a penalty then stopped their momentum and handed possession to Bristol, who took two bonuses of their own to stay in contention. But Edinburgh then took the second picture round, on 'local hero' cricketers who featured in the Hundred, and took a clean sweep of the bonuses, after which they led 155-95.
They weren't totally out of sight yet though, and another penalty handed Bristol another free shot, which they duly took and another two bonuses took them intro three figures as well. Back came Edinburgh though, Mr Russell Jones once again doing it for them, and two bonuses on Stilton producing counties put them within sight of victory. A very quick buzz from Mr Woodcock kept Bristol in it though, and two bonuses on musical notes kept them within touching distance. A second starter in a row to the Avonsiders, a timely full set of bonuses, and they were now just ten behind! And another quick starter to Mr Woodcock put them on level pegging! Just one bonus on decades was taken, but it was enough to sneak them into the lead! But Mr Thomas won the race on the next starter to put Edinburgh back in front! One bonus was taken, and that was the gong! Edinburgh won 185-175!
A great game between two great teams, neither of whom deserve to go out at this stage quite honestly. Well done to Edinburgh and very best of luck in the quarter-finals! Hard lines to Bristol, who, as I said, can totally feel unlucky to being going out here, but a great performance to go out, thanks very much for playing!
The stats: Mr Russell Jones was, just, the best buzzer of the night, with six starters to Mr Woodcock's five. On the bonuses, Edinburgh managed 19 out of 29 (with two penalties) and Bristol 17 out of 27.
Next week's match: again, don't know yet, will retweet anything I find...
Only Connect’s penultimate match
of the group stage pitted the Godyn Family against the Ramblers. The latter led
6-0 after the first round, and 15-2 after surely one of the best second round
performances in the show’s history (in contrast to the no-score draw in the
second round of their last match). Two perfect walls took the scores to 25-12
going into Missing Vowels, but it was always a big ask for the Godyns to catch
up; the Ramblers won 33-13.
Mastermind was won by serial
quizzer and blog reader Rachael Neiman-Wiseman, who led after the specialist
rounds and maintained her advantage in GK to win with 23 points, three ahead of
Anna Melville-James in second. Emma Birch and Justin Wong, of last series’
Imperial team on UC, completed the line-up with 17 and 18 respectively.
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