Women's Tour 2 2018: An Overview

Writer: Alice Hanton

Editor: Ali Thomas

Twenty women’s teams faced Cardiff’s rain and wind (‘the Nottingham we never had’ in terms of weather, according to Iceni) to battle it out for the Tour 2 title. For Iceni, Nice Bristols and SYC (and players from mixed teams such as Reading and SMOG) this was the final tour before stepping onto the international stage for WUCC in July.

Top 8:

1.      Nice Bristols
2.      Iceni
3.      Reading
4.      SYC
5.      SMOG
6.      Hydra 1
7.      Purple Cobras
8.      RED

It’s reassuring to see the worlds teams occupying the top five, and I don’t think the teams that made the semis will come as a surprise to anyone (Nice Bristols, Iceni, Reading and SYC were all top four at the Windfarm too, although with different final placings: third, first, second, and fourth respectively); however, I believe this is the first tour since 2013 that Iceni have entered and not won. After not facing any full-strength Worlds teams at Tour 1, Iceni were keen for the test ahead of Cincinnati, and they tell me they had some ‘excellently fought games.’ Nice Bristols proved to be their only challenger in a relatively smooth road to the final (which finished 15-9). While a loss is rare for Iceni, I doubt they will be fazed as they look towards WUCC, given their vast experience and strong mental game. The win surely gave Bristols a confidence boost ahead of Cincinnati, for which their performance seems seem to be peaking right on time; their play looked hot all weekend, winning all of their games by at least six points, sailing through pool play and looking untroubled on Sunday. Rachel Dean said, ‘Obviously we’re incredibly happy with how the weekend went for us! We’ve been trying out some new offensive and defensive looks over the last few months which have taken a little while to make fit and it felt as though by Tour 2 it was all starting to come together.’ Their positive mentality is significant: a large squad means an ever-enthusiastic sideline, and this particularly stood out in the final, as Dean notes, ‘There was also a newfound belief that the team could do well; we had a big win at the start of Saturday and from that I think it was the first time we’ve really believed that we could win the final and had the plays to back it up. Now just a few weeks to tidy things up, Worlds is feeling incredibly close!’ Does this mean Nice Bristols can top Iceni at WUCC? They looked the stronger team this weekend and have been improving all season, but Iceni are perhaps more established internationally (this season they were second at Tom’s Tourney in May, Bristol were tenth) and may have more self-belief.

Nice Bristols had a fairly easy weekend, beating all opponents by at least six points

Having stormed Tour 1, Reading had some closer games this time than they would have liked, but nevertheless finished third - no mean feat! Topping a three-way-tie after two universe point losses in the pool, GeeGee Morrison said, ‘Guaranteed top 4 we knew we had more to prove, we knew we were better than the sloppy and panicked team that crossed the Welsh border.’ They were unable to stop the Bristol powerhouse (‘They capitalised on every single mistake we made and showed us what a Worlds team is made of’), but turned up to beat SYC in their final game. Morrison says that ‘Finishing 3rd meant a lot to the squad, especially our developing players, and taught us a lot about mental toughness.’ The connections developed between the WUCC mixed team players over Tours 1 and 2 should prove beneficial in Cincinnati.

Cardiff saw the split SYC squads of Tour 1 come together, and demonstrated their strength by topping their pool easily on Saturday. They will perhaps be disappointed with their loss to Reading in the 3v4 after beating them in the pool, but this is a team that has already proved itself internationally this season (fourth at Tom’s Tourney) and they should feel confident heading to Worlds.

SYC's unsplit squad was still no match for Iceni 

SMOG had an excellent weekend despite losing some WUCC mixed players to injury and work. Their focus was on development, with several non-Worlds players stepping up, and WUCC players taking on bigger roles. Katie Ackerley says of their fifth place finish: ‘We were a little surprised with the result but I think it was thoroughly deserved.’ Such a high placing without a full-strength squad is testament to the depth of the club, and I expect them to remain at the top end of Tour in future seasons.

Hydra’s large squad relished the opportunity to match up against Worlds teams and faced a tough pool (Reading, SYC and SMOG), coming out bottom of a three-way-tie. They dealt well with challenging match ups on Sunday, beating Reading Black and Purple Cobras, and finished the weekend with a close loss to SMOG who, according to co-captain Grace Owen, came out firing and had solidified their connections. Owen is happy with their performance overall. ‘We felt that we had a much better weekend than at Tour 1,’ she said, ‘really focusing on minimizing our unforced errors, except in our game against Reading on Saturday in the horrendous wind!’ This (still relatively young) team is one to watch in future, including at Tour 3 where the absence of the WUCC teams will put them in serious contention for the title.

Purple Cobras and Red were pleased to be playing higher up the seedings this tour, and deservedly so. Both teams had comfortable wins against non-Worlds teams, and met each other on Sunday in a rematch of Tour 1 plate final, this time in the 7v8. Purple Cobras are in their first season as a Women’s team and do not train, but the experience and skill of each player is evident. They had no trouble finding their connections, securing an early win against Brighton to set them up for the rest of the tournament. Red easily topped their pool (Reading Red and Hydra 2) and lost only to SMOG and Purple Cobras. Some talented players head up the Red squad, and they and Purple Cobras will be other teams with high expectations for Tour 3.

Considering the rest of the field, it is uncharacteristic of Brighton (ninth) to be out of the top 8 (they were sixth in Nottingham). Perhaps the absence of ‘talismanic’ Megan Hurst had a big impact? Reading Black finished highest of the second teams, securing comfortable wins against Brixton, Merseyside and GB U20s.

GB U20s had a successful weekend (finishing 11^th and climbing 3 seeds) despite having a squad of only 11 (losing some players to exams). Coach Hannah Randles tells me they have been training since November, ahead of Junior Worlds in August. They particularly enjoyed their games against Uprising: ‘even though they lost in sudden death to them on Saturday they were buzzing from that game and it set them up for Sunday.’ They found their groove in a win against Chaos (who seem to be having a less successful season than last year where they finished eighth overall) and rounded out the weekend with a win against Uprising. Randles says that playing Tour was a really useful experience for the U20s:

‘It really is an invaluable experience for the girls to play against such a range of different women. There aren’t that many chances for them to play at junior level and when they do it’s against people they know really well so they don’t need to adapt in the same way they were forced to at Tour. Not only that, it’s a great way for them to see the wider world of women’s ultimate, meeting university players and club team players who they’ll potentially play with in the future […] we’re all really excited for Tour 3 and feeling good about our preparation for Junior Worlds in August. Only 60 days to go!’

Tour 3 in Birmingham will see the absence of SYC, Iceni and Nice Bristols, a depleted Reading and SMOG, and (presumably) the return of the Scottish teams (who will also be affected by WUCC) and other northerners such as LLLeeds. The title is up for grabs and many teams will be eager for the opportunity to finish in the top 4. I would put Hydra or Purple Cobras in the number one spot, but Brighton and the Scots should not be counted out.