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The pools were always going to
throw up some surprises - and they did not disappoint. Clapham had
split it's new squad into 2 even teams, Chevvy were very shorthanded
(playing ironman half the day), LLL were short several key people playing
schmindoors, Whey! had a strong Chevvy South-esque team - everyone else
was much as expected.
In pool A LLL started off with
a great 12-9 victory over Clapham 1, playing steady error-free
(indoor style) offence in the windless conditions and forcing
Clapham both to make an uncharacteristic number of mistakes and run more
than they wanted to that early in the day. Clapham had all but
resigned themselves to going out at this stage, but LLL then had to play
a team of Whey! legends well up for a battle against the LLL
team which included a few of their ex-teammates from Catch
22 days. Whey! ran out 12-9 winners after a hard game, setting up a Whey!
vs Clapham game which Clapham needed to win by 4 to qualify as pool
winners. Against everyone's expectations Clapham 1 managed to raise their
game significantly and win by 5 or 6, thus qualifying for the final on
points difference. Purple Haze by no means just made up the numbers - all
the teams in Pool A were very impressed that Haze looked as
comfortable at this level as they did and managed to score so many points
(I think they got 9 or maybe more off Clapham 1 and they were leading
LLL until the later stages of that game).
In Pool B Clapham 2 got ahead
of the Druids in the first game and never looked back, while Chevvy beat
Bristol Plastic Factory. In the Chevvy/Clapham 2 game Chevvy went 8 -
4 ahead with some great play, but couldn't hold on due to the lack of
subs, apparently losing the game 13 - 8. Their ironman 7 couldn't hold out
against the Druids either, so with those top 3 all taking
advantage of Bristol the final positions in Pool B ended up
being much clearer than in Pool A. As with Haze in Pool A though,
Bristol did not look out of their depth and according to Dougie gave
Clapham 2 their closest battle (13-10).
The all-Clapham final went off
with a bang but ended with a wimper. The first few points were traded with
spectacular diving grabs from new boys Ollie Benjamin and Finn Hughes -
the game looked set to be a cracker. Instead cracks soon appeared in
Clapham 1 whilst Clapham 2 had all the running left and were making very
few mistakes (6 turnovers all game). Clapham 1 plugged away, but to no
avail - Dougie and Si Hill's team winning yet again 15-10. I didn't
see any of the other games so can't comment I'm afraid, but the final
placings were:
1 (7) Clapham Ultimate 2
2 (1) Clapham Ultimate 1
3 (3) Fluid Druids
4 (5)
LeedsLeedsLeeds
5 (4) Whey!
6 (2) Chevron Action Flash
7
(6) Bristol Plastic Factory
8 (8) Purple Haze
Thanks for coming down all the teams that played,
and thanks for leaving the common so tidy. I think everyone that played
really enjoyed the day and hopes that we can make Tour 0/The Charity
Shield a regular feature in the Ultimate calendar. It really sets up
Tour 1 in 2 weeks time, leaving some big questions unanswered - Will
LeedsLeedsLeeds be a real contender for the Tour title, or even a
hard-to-come-by Tour victory (Clapham have won 7 of 8 in the
last 2 seasons) when they add the key players they were
missing? Very possibly. Will either or both of the Chevron divorcees
challenge for the top places despite the fact they've had to split the
team china? Very possibly. Are the Druids going to take that next
step up and be the number 2 team? There is always that possibility. Where
do TeamIndoorShark fit in? Are they going to be this season's Leeds
United? Does this year's top 8 look significantly
more competitive than previous years? Definitely - it's gonna be
a lot of fun. Most importantly - will anyone manage to stop Clapham
winning the Tour or Nationals, thus completing a record hatrick
of doubles (2001, 2002, 2003)? It certainly looks a more level
playing field than in previous years, but I'll leave it to Wayne
Retter, the Nostradamus of UK Ultimate, to make his traditional pre-season
predictions - I know what I think!
All £240 entry fees will be sent to the charity of
Clapham 2's choice, probably some split between The Red Cross and the
Paganello Fund (which helps players from disadvantaged countries play
Paga).
Cheers all,
Roger Thomson
The Silver Bear
cu #1
Entry and pre-tournament
information
Entry Fee: £30 per team payable
in cash at the captain's meeting. All £240 will be donated to the charity
of the winning team's choice. Could ALL teams on the list please send a
final confirmation AND choice of charity to both Wigsy (wigsy22@hotmail.com) and
myself (roger@claphamultimate.com)
Pool games to 13 points, with
halftime at 7.
Single crossover games to 15
points, with halftime at 8.
Halftime: 2
minutes.
Timeouts: 1 per team. Max duration 2
minutes.
Timecap: 60 minutes for pool games, 75
minutes for the final crossover games. At the timecap complete the point
and assess the score. Add 2 to the higher score and play to that total -
unless that total would be more than the initial target total (13 or 15)
in which case play to the initial total.
Bad
weather: In the case of bad weather games may be shortened slightly and
the schedule tightened up so that round 2 will start 15 minutes earlier @
11.15, round 3 @ 12.30, and crossovers @ 13.45.
Good weather: In the case of good weather the final
may be delayed by 15 or 30 minutes to give the combatants time to prepare
themselves and so that the other teams can kick back with a beer in the
sun and watch the finalists knock 7 bells out of each other.
9.30am - Captain's meeting
10.00
Clapham Ultimate 1 vs LeedsLeedsLeeds
Whey! vs Purple Haze
Chevron
vs Bristol Plastic Factory
Fluid Druids vs
Clapham Ultimate 2
11.30
Clapham Ultimate 1 vs Purple Haze
Whey! vs LeedsLeedsLeeds
Chevron vs Clapham Ultimate 2
Fluid Druids vs Bristol Plastic Factory
13.00
Clapham Ultimate 1 vs Whey!
Purple Haze vs LeedsLeedsLeeds
Chevron vs Fluid Druids
Clapham Ultimate 2 vs Bristol Plastic Factory
14.30
A1 vs B1
A2 vs B2
A3 vs B3
A4 vs B4
15.45 Well deserved visit to the nearest public house.
19.30 Well deserved visit to a local bar, to be announced
soon.
Seedings:
The seedings are initially according to the Top 8 finishing positions at the
previous Nationals, so:
1st seed: Winner of LWL, 2nd seed: Winner of NWL, 3rd seed: 2nd at LWL, 4th
seed: 3rd at LWL, 5th seed: 2nd at NWL, 6th seed: Winner of BWL, 7th seed:
Winner of MWL, 8th seed: 4th at LWL. However: we've agreed to swap seeds 7
& 8 to keep the Clapham teams apart and to balance the pools more evenly,
and in the absence of a clear NWL winner Chevvy and LLL have agreed to seed
themselves NWL1 and NWL2 respectively. |