2 September 2013

UKU Mixed Nationals 2013 - Review

David Pryce reviews the Mixed division at UKU Nationals.

Last weekend saw eight UK Mixed teams competing at Southampton's Wide Lane Sports Ground for the title at UKU Nationals, a spot at WUCC 2014 and a place in the top 3 to go to xEUCF 2013 in Bordeaux.

In the first round all games went as expected, although JR came close to upsetting Black Eagles the Scots pushed for the win in sudden death. The second round saw two early big match ups in DED vs Black Eagles and Bear Cavalry vs Cambridge. Going with tour seedings Black Eagles dispatched DED 15-10 but the return of David Tyler and too many mistakes from Cambridge gave Bear Cavalry an easy win 15-6.

These two rounds acted as seedings for the QF's on Saturday afternoon which all went to tour seeding and put Cambridge vs Black Eagles in one semi and DED vs Bear Cavalry in the other. Semi final 1 was the closest but Cambridge utilised their clinical offence and took full advantage of Black Eagles turns in the wind and rain of Sunday morning, game ended 15-10 Cambridge. The other semi was a very one sided affair; Bear Cavalry winning 15-2. 
DED snatch 3rd and a place at xEUCF. Photo courtesy of Andrew Moss.

The final and the game to go to xEUCF were as a result replays of the second round games: Cambridge against Bear Cavalry and DED against Black Eagles. The final started off very close, with both teams getting used to the cross wind but still able to fire in goals with relative ease. Towards the end of the first half Cambridge's O didn't seem to click and Bear Cavalry took advantage with a couple breaks to take half 8-5. This loss of concentration carried over into the second half and the lead was extended to 10-5. Cambridge then turned on their zone and tightened up all over to get back to trading 12-7, however it was too little too late. Capped to 13 and on defence Bear Cavalry got the D and scored the final point to take the championship for the second time in a row. MVP of final: James Freeman from Bear Cavalry.

On the show pitch the game to go provided the other great rematch with the added excitement of the winner qualifying for xEUCF. Having not been able to watch much of this game live or on VOD I cannot say too much but from what I do know, DED took half, up a couple breaks and held on to take third and a spot in Bordeaux by the same score that Black Eagles beat them the day before. This means Black Eagles only hope of going to WUCC lies with RGS not going or an extra spot being given to the UK. DED will have to finish above Cambridge in Bordeaux to secure a spot in Lecco next summer also. We can only wait and see.

Congratulations to Bear Cavalry on winning the tournament plus joint spirit winners and securing spots at xEUCF and WUCC, also to Cambridge and DED who will also be representing in Bordeaux. Full game results can be found on our Ultiapps score reporter plus final results below.

Finishing Positions
1. Bear Cavalry (qualified for xEUCF and WUCC) [Spirit winners]
2. Cambridge Ultimate (xEUCF)
3. Dog Eat Disc (xEUCF)
4. Black Eagles [Spirit winners]
5. Brighton 
6. Thundering Herd
7. JR
8. ABH
Bears with their medals, now go represent!! Photo courtesy of Matt de Lacy Alders.
REMINDER: for the remaining WUCC spots (similar to the Open and Women's divisions) the 2nd spot will go to the highest UK team at xEUCF that is not Bear Cavalry. The third and (for now) final spot will then be allocated based on Tour 2013 rankings. 
Thanks to PushPass for filming so many games and getting them out very quickly, since I was not playing in the Mixed division, would have been impossible to write this without them! Go buy all the games for £10.99, thats less than £1 per game = bargain!

Keep updated on facebook, twitter and here! Nationals reviews, xEUCF previews and more to come! DP @ tSG.

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