vs BAF
We started a little slack but eventually got into the swing of things. Not a huge amount stood out in this game. 15-9?vs Fire D
The one we were looking forward to. Perhaps we built it up too much. We looked scared from the start and didn't stand up to them. They took advantage and ran away with the first half 8-3. We decided to man up, and fought back to get a few breaks and bring it back within a few points. Just as it got close they broke our O line and we traded the game out to lose 15-10. A spirited comeback from us (and one that they complimented us on afterwards) but we left it too late.vs Fully Charged
A new opponent for us. They break the mark well and cut hard, but they are pretty sloppy with their offence. We worked hard, got blocks and converted. We did struggle a little with their zone / poachy stuff, but once we realised what was going on and played it like zone we never looked back. 14-10?
Meanwhile... we were due to play third in the pool with Brighton, Fusion and Fire O. One of the Fire players got married on Sat, which meant they were weak on Sat and dropped from 5th to 11th... which of course meant we would play them to stay in the top 8 on Sunday morning. And, of course, all their missing wedding guests came back.
vs Fire O
Strong up/downwind all day. We played a strong first half, trading initially until they broke us upwind and downwind to go 5-3, but we did the same back to them and the first half was traded out 8-7. They started the second half better than us, we got broken again upwind and after some more trading it was 14-10 game to 15. Backs to the wall, we scored easily upwind on O, then got the downwind break to go 14-12. We then got a block and worked the disc to 10m out of their endzone, but a lead pass for the goal didn't connect and they flowed downwind for the win 15-12. Gutted, but in fairness we played a good game of ultimate and were simply unlucky to have to play a massively underseeded team who outclassed us on the day by one upwind break. (They went on to beat Sharks 15-2 and Fusion 15-6, so we were the closest game they got by a mile)
vs Leeds
Leeds had lost in sudden death to Sharks and we came out determined to put our relegation from the top 8 behind us by taking it to them. We've struggled to beat them convincingly and we knew this would be a good chance to put the previous loss behind us. We got three breaks in a row to go 3-0 up early before they got on the scoreboard. We made them work hard and when we got the disc we punished their mistakes by being pretty clinical most of the time. They never troubled our O line and our D line was rampant. The game finished 15-6; unfortunately we had to do it on O, which we did first time of asking. A great result by a slick outfit!
vs Fully Charged
They weren't up for this, we were. The game was over before it had started - we warmed up and drilled, they didn't bother. 6-2 up, half 8-4. It was scrappy at times but they really struggled to score upwind and took too many chances downwind, where as we were clinical downwind in the first half and worked it upwind effectively. Again we came out of the half a bit slack, they broke our O line upwind and we started mis-connecting downwind, but our zone was very effective and we end result was never in doubt, a 15-7 win.
Finishing position: 9th, rather convincingly.
It's our worst finish for years, but actually we played some really great ultimate. We slaughtered everyone except Fire, and played well enough in those games to know that we could have taken anyone who finished 5-8. All that we're missing before we beat Fire and co is a bit of experience and self-belief. And maybe an extra 10m on those upwind hucks ;-) I deliberately haven't mentioned any individuals, it wouldn't be fair. There were plenty of great plays but this weekend was a true team performance, everyone worked hard on and off the pitch and we looked and felt like a real team. Well done guys, try not to be too disappointed with the finishing position.
Brummie
