University Challenge: Round 2: Match 6: Bristol vs Imperial

Well, if last week’s match was a trouncing that should’ve been a close match, this week’s match should’ve been a trouncing, but would we get one? Sort of, but not quite.

Still, it would be a hard task for Bristol, who won their first match against Wadham College Oxford with the lowest winning score of the BBC series, winning a low scoring match by 120-105. That was a long time ago now, that match. The team were unchanged from before:

James Xiao, from Hampshire, studying Chemistry
Andy Suttie, from Kelso in the Borders, studying the History and Philosophy of Science
Captain: Will Brady, from Hertford, studying Maths
Madeline Fforde, from Wiltshire, studying Classics and Ancient History

In comparison, Imperial had a very easy time in their first round match, racking up one of the highest scores of the first round when they trounced Jesus College Cambridge by 220-80. They were also unchanged from their first outing:

Pietro Aronica, from Brescia in Italy, studying Biochemistry
Dominic Cottrell, from London, studying Medicine
Captain: Martin Evans, from Oxfordshire, studying Pharmacology
Henry Guille, from Cranbrook in Kent, studying Material Science

So, on paper, Imperial were the favourites, by a long way.

However, the match did start off closely, with the first two starters being shared by the two sides. Then, Imperial began a sprint, which saw them pull away into a decent lead. However, they appeared to be struggling on the bonuses, which meant they didn’t pull away like they might have been expected to.

This gave Bristol the chance to get back into the match. Two starters in a row, coupled with an incorrect interruption from the opposition, saw them briefly reduce Imperial’s lead to 15 points. But Imperial then got their momentum back, and pulled away. After the music round, on actors performing songs from musicals, which Imperial swept the board on, they led by 115-55.

An interesting starter followed about how ‘Photoshop’ has apparently entered the OED as a generic term for altering an image via computer. This went to Bristol. But Imperial had the advantage, and proceeded to pull away even further. By the second picture round, they led by 185-90, and looked pretty safe for the time being.

Two more starters saw the lead reach three figures, and Imperial now looked home and dry. They were a bit unlucky to miss the points on one starter, but it wasn’t going to affect the outcome. Bristol did make it to three figures, which is no more than they deserved, but just fell short of equalling their score from the first round. At the gong, Imperial won by 245-115.

So, the expected win for Imperial, but Bristol didn’t do terribly; to reach three figures is perfectly respectable. Will Brady was the side’s best buzzer, with four starters, which led to 10 bonuses out of 21 with one penalty. Pietro Aronica and Martin Evans got five starters each for Imperial, and the side managed 23 bonuses out of 41, which is pretty impressive, with two penalties.

Next week’s match: U.C.L. vs Jesus College Oxford
 

Tonight’s Only Connect was a friendly between three of the Eggheads, and three members of series winning teams called David! The Davids won, but the Eggheads gave them a decent match. It was odd that Victoria Coren said at the start (probably as a joke) that she’s not keen on the name David, given that she’s engaged to someone with that name (a Mr Mitchell)!