Editor: Hazard (he/him)
At this point, the National League is starting to settle and the Cup is also nearing it's end. SMOG 1 came out strong this weekend, with SMOG 1 vs Reading looking to be the game for top seed. Mighty Hucks won against Deep Space to all but guarantee 3rd, with Birmingham beating Glasgow in the fight to avoid last place. This makes the bottom 3 likely finish as: 4. Deep Space, 5. Birmingham, 6. Glasgow. This isn't guaranteed, but would require a big upset at this point to sway the results. As it stands, these three teams enter the Playoffs.
In the Cup, Thundering Herd won the Southern bracket and Lemmings won the Northern bracket. Both teams are now through to Nationals. The Brown and Bristol sadly lost both their games, so they are out of the structure. Assuming no major League upsets (Glasgow hold most of the power here), the playoffs should be structured as followed:
SMOG 2 vs Oxford is a gtg* between the two losing cup semi-finalists.
The loser of that game plays the 6th-placed League team (Glasgow) in another gtg.
Cambridge vs Leeds occurs for seeding between the remaining Cup teams, with the winner facing the 5th place League team (Birmingham) in another gtg.
The loser of Cam vs Leeds then faces the 4th placed League team (Deep Space) in a final gtg.
This results in 4 teams qualifying through playoffs, due to Mighty Hucks finishing top 3 and declining a spot.
*gtg = game-to-go, a qualifying game for Nationals
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Other Coverage
The ShowGame are doing weekly podcasts every Friday/Saturday covering all the action
Hogi filmed some games this weekend. You can see his watchalong on Twitch, or watch the game footage on YouTube
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Structure
The overall championship is the UK National Series. Within it, teams compete for 8 spots at the National Championships. An easy to read graphic is included below.
We have 6 National League teams. They play in a mini-league, with SMOG and Reading looking like they've taken the guaranteed spots to nationals. Mighty Hucks are declining their spot.
We also have the National Cup, with Thundering Herd and Lemmings reaching the final to take two more spots to Nationals.
The remaining 3 National League teams (Deep Space, Birmingham, Glasgow), the two Cup semi-finalists (Oxford, SMOG 2), and two recovery-winner Cup quarter finalists (Leeds, Cambridge) enter the National Playoffs. These seven teams are fighting for 4 spots at the National Championships.
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| Taken from UKU's guide to 2020/21 Ultimate |
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National League
SMOG 15 - 12 Mighty Hucks
Location: Birmingham
Ben Bruin (Mighty Hucks): Both teams started with a few errors as we got into gear. It was a very even first half with breaks from both sides. Hucks managed to slow down some of SMOG's early deep game, causing some errors around the resets and short field resulting in a further break just before half, making it 8-7.
SMOG came out strong in the second half with a few new defensive looks, putting a clamp around the stack from the women and playing some zone. They took a few early breaks while Hucks adjusted, but by that point they were already 3 points up. The rest of the game pretty much traded out as SMOG's offence was in full flow. Hucks came close to getting a couple of blocks but sadly missed the opportunities.
Shout outs to Josh East and Nick Williams for a huge layout D each, and to Molly Wedge and Tess Hunt with some dominant cutting all over the field.
Alex Greer (SMOG): So I think this is mostly going to be an echo of what Bruin said, an incredibly tight first game of the day. The first half was very back and forth, with Hucks taking half with one break behind them. A lot of the turns from both sides felt inches away from points with a few overthrows here and there.
In the second half, SMOG came out with a few different defensive looks that worked in our favour, we definitely capitalised on the fact that Hucks are less drilled as a team (being mostly pick-up), so some of their connections resulted in errant throws. That being said, when they were scoring it was almost always a huge play to showcase the athletic ability they had on their team.
Despite some hero bids from players like Josh East (which I'm sure will be replayed on Hogi's stream quite a bit), SMOG's 3 point lead was enough to keep Hucks out, with both teams trading at the end
SMOG 15 - 10 Deep Space
Location: Birmingham
We do not currently have a report for this game
Mighty Hucks 15 - 7 Deep Space
Location: Birmingham
Ben Bruin (Mighty Hucks): A bit of a slow and scrappy start from both teams, with several turns in the first few points. Hucks managed to work through them and take a few early breaks to go 4-1 up. Both teams seemed to then get up to speed, with Hucks's long play and Deep Space's quick flow under play both paying off, leading to a half time of roughly 8-4.
Second half began with some strong offensive holds, before Hucks mixed up their defence with a few handler sag and zone looks creating several breaks. That, along with a few errors from Deep Space, allowed Hucks to go on a run towards the end and close out the game 15-7.
Special mention to Leila Denniston and Nina Finley for relentless cutting and some stretching grabs. Also to Tom Fisher for continued grind and a lovely deep shot, and to Katie Flight for dribbling up the centre of the pitch to shred Deep Space's zone apart.
Birmingham 15 - 12 Glasgow
Location: Manchester
Elva Preston (Birmingham): Brum came out excited to start the first game of the day. For many players it was their first game back after covid, but it meant we had a lot of our squad members back. As it was also Glasgow's first game back, the game didn't get off to the smoothest of starts, with a few technical calls slowing play. Once these had been ironed out the game flowed much better and was well fought. Brum came out strong and had a solid offence which we managed to keep up all game. Our strong defence meant we shut down most of Glasgow's deep shots to keep us in the lead throughout the game. Glasgow had some great looks throughout the game and kept the pressure on, but it wasn't enough to get them back in the game once Brum had pulled in front.
Ben Cornelius (Glasgow): The end result was 15-12 but it did feel as though it could have been a sudden death win. Each team fought incredibly hard to get every single point. We were trading in the beginning, and Birmingham started to pull away slightly around the 5 point mark. We seemed to make the same mistake repeatedly, which Birmingham capitalised on. At times we tried to be too clever for this point in the season (i.e. our debut).
Score at half was around 8-6 or 8-5. As such, the second half felt pretty intense with either side managing to garner may breaks. It was clear that both teams really wanted this win! Chris Allan did very well roping in a lot of deep discs and scoring a good few points. Thanks to Birmingham for the game, and congrats on the win.
Reading 15 - 3 Glasgow
Location: Manchester
Joe Brown (Reading): Reading warmed up for this game while Glasgow continued their tussle with Brum. Their time cap came and went, so RU gladly accepted an extended warmup and with the match over and a potentially damagingly short break for GU the game began.
The game plan was to play at our level on both O and D for the entire game being as clinical as possible.
The O line had a small wobble in their first point turning twice (not the game plan) before scoring and never looked back after that (game plan), scoring their other 3 points without another turn.
RU’s D-line was firing on all cylinders as they didn’t allow GUs deep game to connect, bringing down many high discs in our own end zone to prevent a score.
In the end, the difference in the amount of training allowed by Covid rules and the number of points played was reflected in the score line, with RU running out 15-3 winners. (This was only the second time GU had played together)
Reading 15 - 5 Birmingham
Location: Manchester
Joe Brown (Reading): Having generously allowed Glasgow to play the first 2 games and Reading to play the second two due to long drives for both teams, Brum made the most of their rest and came out running hard.
Again, potentially struggling from not having a huge amount of playing time to build chemistry compared to Reading, Birmingham scored just once in the first half. Reading mixed up the D throughout the game and Birmingham adjusted well in the second half to work through the RU zone on multiple occasions to make the second half a lot closer. However, they couldn’t make the inroads require against the RU O-line who finished the day unbroken.
Honourable mentions for the RU women for crunching it offence all day long, and specifically for a lovely link play in one point between Helen Roberts, Nicole Lester, Erin McGready, and Sarah Jeffery for a score. Also to Danny Ryle and Ryan Coones for ruling the skies above Manchester in both games.
Elva Preston (Birmingham): We started a little slower against Reading than we did against Glasgow, but we still held our own. We worked nicely though their zone with patience as comfortable options on offence. But in defence, we couldn't shut down their clinical offence and stop their lovely endzone shots
Reading 15 - 10 Deep Space
Location: London
Time: 2 weeks ago
Miyen Ho (she/her, Deep Space): After a long first point with many opportunities in both endzones, Reading built strong momentum to bring Deep Space to its heels at 4-0. From here, DS fought back, winning the second quarter 6-4 and bringing the score to a 8-6 halftime for Reading. Reading’s strength and endurance, particularly on match defence, clearly showed in the second half, as they earned themselves another 3 breaks to bring the final score to 15-10.
Arguably, however, Reading’s team chemistry was the most significant factor setting them apart from DS. This is probably no surprise, especially since their turnover from their 2019 squad was lower than DS’s.
Shoutout to Conor "Hogi" Hogan for keeping our offence moving dynamically and making several deep shot completions.
Ruth Cawdron and Joe Brown (Reading): It was our first match against another drilled team who have their own play book so we knew going into it we had to bring focus. The first point was memorable (read: a slog), proving that DS can in fact play D, fortunately, so can the RU O-line. RU finally brought it home after a solid 4 and a half minutes of active game time. What followed was a mix of good RU D and a few uncharacteristic gifts from DS to hand RU a 4-0 lead, giving us a buffer that Deep Space couldn't break into. The game tightened up increasingly after that with a mixture of clean one pass holds courtesy of DS using the Deep Space and some more attritional points. Deep Space closed the gap to 7-6 with RU holding on for the half 8-6 and pulling away again in the second to take the win.
Really great showcase of true mixed ultimate and some great deep shots from both sides, featuring aggressive/questionable hucks from Hogi, Danny Ryle and Joe Brown (me). Looking forward to seeing them again. And it certainly would have been interesting to see how things might have gone if we hadn't held that first O...
Shout out to Sam Vile (DS) for the huge layout grab under pressure from a laying out Ben Wilson (RU), and Holly Cardwell for a big layout D for RU. Also to Danny Ryle (RU) for owning the skies at both ends of the pitch! Helen Roberts (RU) had really solid handling, and Deep Space's Nina Finley had a very good consistent pull! Kept pulling up to our end zone line without giving away a brick. Made many other pullers look amateur.
Mighty Hucks 15 - 4 Birmingham
Time: 2 weeks ago
We have no report from this game
*These results include one loss/win which is RED forfeiting a game to SYC
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National Cup
Oxford 15 - 13 Cambridge
Location: Oxford
Harry Mason (Oxford, he/him): This was a fiercely competitive game, as reflecting the history of the two sides and the fact that many players had fought in varsity matches in the past - and not necessarily for the side they were representing this weekend!
As might be expected from those familiar with the sides, the game was characterised by a lot of clinical offense and great mixed play. There were no points with lots of turns, although there were one or two throws from both sides that betrayed how few games had been played this season. This tightened up as the game progressed though. Cambridge entered half with an 8-7 lead, with a small amount of jostling for the lead. Oxford managed a second half break and traded up until 14-13, when they mercifully managed another to avoid taking the game to sudden death.
One of the things that made this game so intense was the depth of both rosters, with no players being looked off or being picked just to look good in the team photo. However, special mention in Cambridge can be given to Melissa "George" LaFrance for her consistenly excellent cutting and Jack Lynch (my no-I'm-not-bitter-he-left-us former teammate on Reading), whose throws across the whole field have not dulled in the slightest since he played WUCC. On my own team, I have to acknowledge the chemistry between Shona Carr and team co-captain Magali Matsumiya, who managed to secure the final pass for many points safely and without fuss.
As might be expected from those familiar with the sides, the game was characterised by a lot of clinical offense and great mixed play. There were no points with lots of turns, although there were one or two throws from both sides that betrayed how few games had been played this season. This tightened up as the game progressed though. Cambridge entered half with an 8-7 lead, with a small amount of jostling for the lead. Oxford managed a second half break and traded up until 14-13, when they mercifully managed another to avoid taking the game to sudden death.
One of the things that made this game so intense was the depth of both rosters, with no players being looked off or being picked just to look good in the team photo. However, special mention in Cambridge can be given to Melissa "George" LaFrance for her consistenly excellent cutting and Jack Lynch (my no-I'm-not-bitter-he-left-us former teammate on Reading), whose throws across the whole field have not dulled in the slightest since he played WUCC. On my own team, I have to acknowledge the chemistry between Shona Carr and team co-captain Magali Matsumiya, who managed to secure the final pass for many points safely and without fuss.
Thundering Herd 15 - 6 Bristol
Location: Oxford
Jake Waller (Bristol, he/him): After a scrappy start where both teams gave the disc up easily on O and got it back well on D, Herd began to clean things up and took control of the game. Their deep shots were a constant threat and required numerous defensive adjustments, but Bristol managed to start limiting them and had a second half run as a result. On O, Bristol eventually managed to get the disc moving quicker and finding their receivers in motion. Again, our newer players shone, but the addition of Becky Lock, newly Bristolian, added a whole new level of highlight reel to our play on O and D. Well spirited throughout and great to see some strong pulling from men and women alike.
Chung Leung (Thundering Herd): We traded for the first few points before our D line went on a little run. Both teams took a while to get their O-lines settled and we were fortunate to get ours to click before theirs. Bristol had some excellent individual athletes who were a real threat on both offence and defence. Our D line tried a variety of looks (including a quickly abandoned zone) to stymie their O-line which grew in confidence and consistency.
We're big fans of what Bristol are doing as an ultimate community. Their traditional strengths have been in the single-gender divisions, but if this is anything to go by, their mixed team is also going to be a force to be reckoned with.
Thundering Herd 15 - 8 Oxford
Location: Oxford
Chung Leung (Thundering Herd): Our quarter finished slightly before Ox-Cam so we popped over a field to scope out the competition. When we arrived they were tied 13-13 in a hotly contested game. Lots of tight athletic plays and intensity on defence from both teams foreshadowed that we would have our work cut out for us.
Oxford have real strength in their female receivers and hit them effectively throughout the first half, taking down deep shots consistently. A Herd switch to force-middle and flat forces encouraged Oxford to grind out scores with a shorter game. After some unfortunate and uncharacteristic Oxford execution errors, Herd took half 8-4.
Herd went on a mini tear and took the game to 13-5 after the half. Oxford dug deep and broke back for 3 unanswered points of their own. Whipping out a zone slowed Herd's offence down, clinically capitalising on our turns, illustrating Oxford's experience and tactical nous. Herd tucked away an offence and got a final break for 15-8.
It looked like Oxford had brought a relatively small squad. There was only a 30min break between games. Combined with their more physically challenging quarter, Herd were fortunate that Oxford didn't have greater depth in legs. Best of luck for the play-offs!
Harry Mason (Oxford, he/him): The cup semi-final, aka the Southern final and a game-to-go to Nationals!
I'm going to spend a paragraph talking about how great Herd were, because I want to take nothing away from them. Despite/Because of the lack of Sean Colfer, they looked like an incredibly effective and gelled unit. Able to use a variety of looks on offence to take advantage of all parts of the field, they could not be taken lightly and did not have any easy-to-exploit weaknesses (or, at least, none that we managed to find). The game was competitive at the very start, and then Oxford did manage a small D roll at the very end to save a bit of face. However, this was Herd's game through and through. Herd have many, many players, but did not seem to suffer from any lack of chemistry on field that such squad sizes can sometimes bring. Special mention to Chung Leung, who has only gotten faster and more clinical since the last time I saw him.
However, I will say that Oxford were very much not at their peak for this game. Given the nature of the format (and given the nature of rivalries), we poured everything into our first game against Cambridge, and found ourselves less than 100% for this one - with only a very short break to recover. Special shout to Phili Kent for being so quick and athletic regardless of the short rest. Herd exploited our tiredness well, and earned a longer break by dispatching Bristol in a quicker fashion. I would very much like to play Herd again at Nationals in a more equitable manner. I say all of this with no shade to them though - you don't control how your opponent turns up and they took full advantage of the situation. Well done on earning a well deserved spot against the nation's elite. Oxford now have to earn ours to get a chance at a rematch, so bring on the playoffs!
Cambridge 15 - 6 Bristol
Location: Oxford
Jake Waller (Bristol, he/him): Cambridge came out firing, having not had long between this game and their previous one. They put some quick points on the board playing some of the fastest and smoothest small ball offense I've ever seen. A few Bristol mistakes helped Cambridge to a healthy lead but the plucky sou'westers came back, managing to string together some long throws and points to give the scoreboard a more balanced feel. Another well contested and positive experience. Shout outs due to John Fitzgerald and Anna Meares for athletic
plays and good decisions alike.
SMOG 2 15 - 2 The Brown
Location: Leeds
Shaun Eccleston (The Brown): We went into the game with realistic expectations around the result so we mostly used the game to see how we stacked up against a high level opponent. The game went as we expected it to, SMOG’s pressure on D prevented us from really converting many opportunities on O, either from receiving the disc or getting a turnover via our zone. The zone caused some issues in the early game, but became less effective as the game progressed.
The match gave us confidence in our deep game with receivers Matt Rowlinson and Dan Sørensen who scored our points and who had competitive match ups throughout the game. However, Smog were the superior side and rolled to a 15-2 victory.
Lemmings 15 - 4 Leeds
Location: Leeds
Nathan Sanders (Lemmings): After remembering our last meeting at regionals were LLLeeds bested us, we knew we would have to start well, and we did taking a commanding 8 –2 lead at half time. The second half saw a lot of turns from both sides and some clutch D’s in the endzone from Isaac Davis kept the scoreboard favouring the Lemmings throughout the second half. A stand out performance by Bobby from Leeds stifled our offence on many occasions.
Lemmings 14 - 9 SMOG 2
Location: Leeds
Nathan Sanders (Lemmings): The game-to-go to nationals! We were feeling good coming into the game thanks to the healthy win against Leeds, and knew we had nothing to lose, we just had to leave it all on the field. Lemmings broke first point which gave us a massive confidence boost as we traded for a couple of points with a very athletic SMOG squad. A couple of breaks our way and Lemmings lead at half 8-4 thanks to some very athletic D’s from Callum McGready (Probably the best McGready in UK Ultimate). SMOG immediately break after half and the game traded for most of the second half, seeing Lemmings walk away with the W.
Leeds 14 - 10 The Brown
Location: Leeds
Shaun Eccleston (The Brown): Our game against Leeds was far more competitive and was played with a high intensity throughout. Both teams had just been beaten heavily and we knew we needed to come out the gates fast and try to get some early breaks. Unfortunately the opposite happened and we went down 4-1 in the early part of the game. Leeds kept up the pace to take the half 8-4 with an excellent performance from Rob Wright.
In the second half every point was competitive with most having multiple turns. The Brown managed to fight our way back a bit to make sure Leeds had to work till the very end of the game, with our ladies coming up with some great blocks and specifically with endzone grabs from Vicky Hole.
Leeds took it away from us at the end, it was a really enjoyable game and felt close throughout. Many opportunities missed for both teams so if things had fallen our way we could have sneaked a win but we could have also lost by 7 if things had gone more in Leeds’s favour.
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