hi all Report for the Open tournament - a separate Women's report is coming soon.
The 3rd Savage 7s event took place this Saturday, down at Crystal Palace. Players braved truly miserable conditions, constant, driving drizzle in cold winds that the British Isles is a world champion in producing. The group matches were topped by the seeds, but there was stiff competition for the best runner-up slot. Hardfisch (Hamburg) and Numbats (Amsterdam) battled out a tough game on the windswept outer pitches of Mount Doom, with the Germans eventually taking control. Bristol and Clapham 2 had another great game, with Bristol edging it on sudden death. Bristol won again on sudden death against FUJ from Prague. Fever and Amsterdam ended their tournament with another humdinger, with Fever winning on sudden death. Leeds were just shaded by Chevy, but they went on to dismantle everyone else in their group to easily qualify as best 2nd placed team, ahead of Hardfisch and Bristol. Semis Tooting, who'd fairly eased through their group, were against a very impressive looking Chevy, who'd lost at this stage in both the previous tournaments. Chevy carved open a 3 point lead early on in the game, and managed to hold onto this throughout, despite a strong challenge from Tooting, who were not ever going to go down without a fight. The other Semi proved to be a belter. Toast, the holders, head to head against Leeds who were gunning to take them down. It was Leeds who had the early running, going into a 3-1 lead and looking like taking control. However Toast had other ideas and with some patient offence, along with some outrageously accurrate hammers, clawed their way back in and opened up a two point lead themselves. Leeds have an injury time out. 8th man needed? No, thanks. After a fair time delay, the game starts again, with Toast edging closer to the victory. Time cap is called with Toast 11-9 up, and then go 12-11. Leeds are fighting every inch of the way, and the D is extreme, even at this stage of the game. Sudden death, and Toast break out with an excellent upwind pass to Wiggsy, but the hammer for the winning point is just overcooked. Leeds take the disc and patiently work it down for the winner, the game overrunning seriously and overlapping with the womens final by about 30 minutes. A disconsolate Toast can be proud of their performance though. How do you follow that? We felt guilty asking the players to come back out for a final half an hour later. Would you ask the top football stars to play over 5 hours without a sub, and pay for the privilege? But ahead it went, and Chevy & Leeds lined up under the floodlights. Chevy had only just beaten Leeds in the group matches, and once again it was impossible to separate the teams. The recombined Chevy team was looking very strong, with combinations from Si Weeks and Rodders looking particularly dangerous. This was equalled by Leeds all the way, though, who themselves had brought a very powerful team. The standard of ultimate was incredibly high, with neither team giving any quarter. Its a testament to the fitness and overall talent of these players that such a level can be consistently produced, here we were, past 7.00 on a cold winter's evening and witnessing outstanding ultimate. Chevy do open up a small lead as the game moved towards the end. Time cap goes, 11-8, and we start to assume it will be closed out in a fairly straightforward manner. Incredibly, Leeds step up their D once more, and eat away at this lead with some amazing intercepts, and force some uncharacteristic errors from Chevy. 12-11, and Leeds are fired up. This time, however, Chevy remain focused and work their way to the winning score. This was without doubt the finest final we've seen at Savage, as the standard is ratcheted higher each time. Results: 1. Chevron Action Flash 2. Leeds Leeds Leeds Semis: Toast Tooting Tigers Group Stages: Hardfisch Bristol Plastic Factory FUJ Prague Fever Amsterdam Paddy Murphy Clapham Doughboy MVP of the tournament: Steve Vaughn (Vaughnie) (Leeds) Spirit of the game: FUJ Prague respect: Thanks to Dave Trovell, who organised the Lucozade sponsorship in absentia, and Richie Smart for delivering the goods at the last minute. Big thanks to Charmeyne for helping with organisation and planning, beyond the call of duty. Big up to the 8th men of regents park (Freddie, Muzz, Spanky, Henrik, Colin) for helping out with timekeeping, stats and scores. Lookfly, for their help and work with the merchandising. and of course, Kiwi Kate Taylor, for putting in a tremendous amount of time and effort, to transform the tournament beyond recognition. See you next year Simon ps: more photos and results will be posted to the website in due course. Simon Norris [EMAIL PROTECTED] 07973 869798 Simon Norris [EMAIL PROTECTED] 07973 869798 __________________________________________________ BritDisc mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://pootle.near.me.uk/mailman/listinfo/britdisc Staying informed - http://www.ukultimate.com/informed.asp
