Thursday 03 July 2008
Last weekend saw the second of the three 2008 mixed tours take place in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire. Following on from the win at mixed tour 1 Chevron retained their 1st seed for the pool games. Due to a clash with various GB activities we lost a number of players from mixed tour 1 but this tournament saw the return of Giacomo Maltman, Matt Hosgson, Owain Boardman, James Stanley and a debut for Frankie Woodhall.
Game 1: EMU1
We entered this game confident and controlled the game early on. Our offence was solid and our Defence were able to apply enough pressure to get the turn and score. We ran out comfortable winners 13-7.
Game 2: Thunder Herd
After building an early 5-1 lead forcing Herd to turn over and capitalising on their mistakes, Herd started to put pressure on our offence and force us into silly mistakes which let them back into the game. Their D roll gave them the lead at half. We traded the second half out losing 13-11.
Game 3: Strange Blue
Following the defeat we had a game off to analyse our mistakes. A win in this game gave us a semi final shot; a loss meant we were out of the top 4. We started the game well and built up a strong comfortable lead and the players were able to play with a smile on their faces. A well spirited, fun game finished 13-5 to us.
Semi Final: FAF
The defeat on the Saturday set us up with a much more difficult semi final against FAF. A team made up of a lot of friends and familiar faces. The conditions weren't great but there was enough quality on the pitch to play some good ultimate. Zones were the order of the day and we quickly went 5-1 up with some of the most intense defence of the season. A lapse in concentration gave FAF hope and they brought it back to 5-5. We then stepped up again and took half 7-5. We continued to match FAF throughout and step up when required, building up another 5 point lead. All the team had an amazing game and we ran out 13-11 winners. Another final....
Final: Thundering Herd
Atrocious weather between the semi and final saw much of the squad heading for cover. We lost Matt McBwonga due to injury but Josh returned following GB junior training. We came out a little late but we looked quietly focussed. We started by making some bad decision and then stopped taking our shots which allowed Herd to do a repeat of our first encounter and shut down our offence until the score was 11-5. Everyone look shell shocked. A time out was called and then something seemed to click and we took 6 out of the next 7 points. The tide had definitely changed, but too late as at 11-12 down Herd converted their offence to win the game 13-11.
This sets up the final mixed tour with everything to play for, several teams in the running and Chevron still aiming to do the Mixed and Open Tour double.
MVP of weekend: Giacomo Maltman
Female MVP of Final: Rachael Kelly (again!)
Matt McahhMccahh