Editor: Hazard (he/him)
The National League is finished! Congratulations to Reading for winning the proverbial league final against SMOG, and well done to Deep Space for securing 4th with a win against Glasgow. We've also included a game from last week between SMOG and Glasgow, and a bonus Challenge Legue game!
We now know for certain the final playoff structure:
SMOG 2 vs Oxford is a gtg* between the two losing cup semi-finalists.
The loser of that game plays Glasgow in another gtg.
Cambridge vs Leeds occurs for seeding between the remaining Cup teams, with the winner facing Birmingham in another gtg.
The loser of Cam vs Leeds then faces Deep Space in a final gtg.
*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 played in a mini-league, with SMOG and Reading taking nationals spots. Mighty Hucks have declined 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
*we start off with last week's game*
SMOG 15 - 2 Glasgow
Location: Carlisle
Hari Tidswell (SMOG): It was a sunny day in Carlisle, 22° and blustery at times. We opened the game with a huge layout block from Nick Williams in the end zone to set the intensity of the game. SMOG applied pressure to force some drops and turnover from Glasgow, which we didn't give the disc back from. Glasgow had a few deep shots that were very close to completing, and having one success before the end of the half. In the second half SMOG came down in a zone with product some blocks and forced more turnovers, taking the game 15-2.
Ben Cornelius (Glasgow): This game was a hard one to write about. The first 8 or so points were GUX dropping the disc. We were making some solid cuts and getting free of Smog's defenders. But just couldn't snatch the disc and hold it firmly with two hands. The first 8 or so turns were caused by simple drops. It would be from centring the disc after the first pass! Was it a combination of sanitiser and sunscreen? Was it something in the foreign Carlisle air? We may never know.
We managed to turn them a few times but couldn’t convert those into a score. We turned them on the first point which was exciting! But the first pass after the turn was a drop. It was a fun game regardless. SMOG were clinical when on the edge of the end zone. They knew who they wanted to hit and exactly where to hit them. They were respectful throughout and played as intense as they would do in a closer game.
The Reading/SMOG game will certainly be an exciting watch!
*flash forward to the most recent weekend*
Reading 15 - 12 SMOG
Location: Tipton
Alex Greer (SMOG): The game was definitely lined up to be the big finale of the Mixed National League. SMOG stoked Reading's fire the night before with someone timely social media posts reminding them of the result from the 2k19 game-to-go to euros, which was a bit of an own goal since we didn't do enough to get our own intensity up and running from the start.
The first half Reading came out firing from all cylinders, they set up a tenacious handler poach / sag that stifled SMOG's ability to play through the centre of the pitch, and also generated a number of turns. Following a morale-boosting timeout, we managed to trade out in the latter part of this half, but the damage was already done at 8-4.
The second half felt very different, SMOG came out a lot more focused, grinded on defence for a number of successful breaks, eventually bring the score to 12-11. We managed to turn again, however couldn't quite convert. Unfortunately Reading decided to have their second wind at this time and hit us hard, with SMOG missing a few throwing executions in the swirly wind. Reading punished and the final score was 15-12.
A tough result and likely a lot for both turns to take away and digest, looking forward to the eventual grudge match at nationals.
Joe Brown and Ruth Cawdron (Reading): Slightly windy and swirly conditions meant we went into the game knowing there might be more turnovers than we'd like. So our pre-match talk was all about how we react to the turnovers. We went in with a focus on playing our classic chilly structured offence, not getting phased by the zone look or 1v1 match-ups that SMOG threw at us.
RU managed to subdue and frustrate the SMOG offence for the majority of the first half leading to at least one time-out to be taken and a very loud and enthusiastic half time speech from Carlo Conner-Hill.
Something about not being the best in Europe or even the best in the UK, not sure who he was actually referring to.
Maybe it rallied the SMOG, maybe it rattled RU, what it did was inspire a 3-point roll bring the scores to almost level in the middle third of the game, even after the buffer we'd enjoyed at the start.
Reading broke straight back and took at least one more during the second half to pull the game away once again. Finally managing to put that break in felt like a big moment to stop the momentum. RU managed roughly 7 breaks in total and generated turns on nearly every point. RU forced a few SMOG to bring out their D-line for some O points, with their D-line possibly finishing with a higher conversion rate!
Shout out to Sam Wilson for some deep scores and nice throws, and Mark Bignal for some nice throws and deep scores - we really enjoyed the partnership between the two! Also to all the RU D-line women for keeping a lid on what are arguably the best female Ultimate players in the UK right now. Some grindy points in this game and a really intense match means that we're really looking forward to a rematch at Nats!
SMOG 15 - 4 Birmingham
Location: Tipton
Hari Tidswell (SMOG): Quickly following our game against Reading, Birmingham started out of the gates faster than SMOG, trading in the early first half of the game and forcing us to make some errors. The combination of the earlier loss, some tiredness, and the heat started getting to us.
Stepping up, SMOG managed to improve and produce a more efficient offence and defence, although there were still a lot of turnovers. Birmingham really kept the pressure on us, and if there had been a few more catches in the end zone from their deep shots the game would have been much closer than it was.
Deep Space 15 - 6 Glasgow
Location: Tipton
Conor Hogan (Deep Space): Glasgow started well by breaking Space’s O line but we stuck out our swing line and levelled it up before going on a run to 5-1. We then traded to half at 8-4.
After the half, we made some adjustments and kept the GUX offence guessing with different D looks. We ran out winners 15-6, with a strong 7-2 second half.
Shout out Marie Sennyey and Jo Hamer for getting some aerial blocks for our D line and to Nina Finley and James Lee for driving the bus on our O line.
Mighty Hucks 15 - 7 Glasgow
Location: Tipton
Ben Bruin (Mighty Hucks): Hucks started with a break down wind as Glasgow eased into the game having played Deep Space just before. Both teams then traded for a few points as neither team could capitalise on each others early errors. Glasgow's deep game was working fairly well and despite some close bids Hucks couldn't stop them. Half ended 8-5 or 8-6.
Hucks came out strong in the second half as they kicked up their defence and managed to stop Glasgow's deep shots and flow, whilst building on their offensive connections. Hucks closed out the game 15-7. Shout out to Ciara Moore for some dominant cutting on her Hucks debut.
*and, as a bonus, here's a report from a very relevant challenge league game*
Mighty Hucks 15 - 13 Deep Space
Location: Tipton
Conor Hogan (Deep Space): A lot of roster turnover for Mighty Hucks and a shorter roster for Deep Space meant this was always gonna be a very different game to our first game 2 weeks ago. Some elements remained the same; Hucks got an early break or two and pressured our under passes a lot. With the absence of Will Rowledge, we weren’t being roasted in the air so much but we weren’t connecting on our early deep shots either. We took a timeout at 3-1 to refocus but Hucks took half 8-5. Guess our issue was execution because while Hucks were putting pressure on us to cough up the disc, they didn’t get many blocks throughout the game.
In the second half, Hucks continued to challenge us and they pushed their lead out to four at 14-10. With the game hanging in the balance, we kicked into another gear and got three goals in a row (shout out me for assisting all three 
). This surge was a bit too little too late and Hucks clinically ended the game with a 2 point win.
Shout out Joyce Kwok and Leila Denniston on our O-line for connecting on some lush deep shots, and Maks Tobiasiewicz and Matt "Smatt" Hodgson on D for generating multiple blocks throughout the game. Also shout out to Ben Bruin for making his on-pitch return 
). This surge was a bit too little too late and Hucks clinically ended the game with a 2 point win. 
