James Burbidge Summarises the start of the UK Open Club Season
Not that there was much doubt in anyone’s mind – but Clapham had no problem asserting their dominance over the rest of Europe at London Calling. Split O and D lines cruised through their pools and bracket play to meet in the final where the D-line beat the O 15-9.
Not that there was much doubt in anyone’s mind – but Clapham had no problem asserting their dominance over the rest of Europe at London Calling. Split O and D lines cruised through their pools and bracket play to meet in the final where the D-line beat the O 15-9.
Playing as a full squad almost proved their
undoing – trading down against Bad Skid late in the show game on Saturday evening, a clean slate for the weekend looked far from certain. With a clinical finish
however, they found another gear at 12-13 down to take the game away from the
Germans 15-13.
It was surprising therefore, to see Bad
Skid lose in the quarterfinal to one of the French national teams on Sunday
morning. Perhaps this is simply explained by a gut-busting performance the
night before causing a mental and physical hangover the next day. Likewise a
shorthanded FAB finished 11th (dropping from their 3 seed) but gave
Clapham their closest game of the weekend, losing to the D-line by just 2.
Both French teams made it to the
quarterfinals, and it will be exciting to see what they can achieve at Euros
with a bit more time together under their belts and when the wheat is separated
from the chaff. Austria, on the other hand, had a solid weekend against top
level competition, but failed to excite, finishing 14th.
Viksjofors and EMO will both be quietly
pleased with their weekends, taking 4th and 6th
respectively, and proving they can hang with the best in Europe. EMO quietly
took the 2nd seed for Tour 2, displacing Chevron (and putting themselves on
the same side of the bracket as Clapham). Likewise a Bear-heavy Fire will be
happy with their 9th place finish, which should translate to 5th
at Tour 2.
Big movers up from the mid-table were Glasgow,
who moved from 23rd to 16th after knocking Ka-Pow down in
a crossover, and Zimmer who did the same for Brighton City (O-line) to move
from 20th to 12th. Devon meanwhile, dropped from 13th
to 19th, despite playing their elite pool extremely close on
Saturday (a 2 point loss to Bad Skid, and a sudden death win over Fire).
With the seedings and schedule released in record time, we now know that the Tour 2 team list will be as follows:
1. Clapham D
2. Clapham O
2. Clapham O
3. EMO
4. Chevron
5. Fire
6. Zimmer
7. Ranelagh
7. Ranelagh
8. Brighton
9. Glasgow
10. Manchester
11. Devon
12. DED
13. Ka-Pow
14. Cult
15. LLLeeds
16. Birmingham
16. Birmingham
Another fantastic London Calling in the book (what pitches!), roll on Tour 2.
Tour 2 Previews and more are on the way, stay tuned!
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