Thursday 15 May 2008
Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th May saw the final Tour Tournament of the UKUA Open Season. It was held in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire and once again saw 60 teams compete in the 3 divisions. Chevron entered this tournament seeded 2nd after the disappointing final loss at Tour 2. Hopes of a full squad were however dashed at the news that JTM Josh Walkden Smith was representing GB Juniors to aid their preparation for Worlds in August. Dave Grayson missed the first day due to a wedding but rumours of Rob Mitchell attending because that's his new part-time job were unfounded as he appeared pitch side.
This tour would see the eventual Tour Champions crowned. 3 teams were fighting for it: Chevron, Clapham and Fire. Depending on results all three could mathematically take the title... the question was who??
Game 1: Brighton
A late start meant the team didn't have any morning issues like last tour. We set ourselves an aim to improve with every performance this weekend so this game would set our stall out for the rest of the tournament. With so much at stake the team came out focussed and determined to put in a good show. Brighton are one of the trickiest team to play as you’re never sure what we will face up against. The offence line reconnected and proved they were going to be at the top of their game. Solidly putting in point after point. This eased the pressure on the D team somewhat and allowed them to build up momentum with a couple of great team turnover and scores. In the end we closed out with the biggest margin of victory we'd achieved against this team.
Score 15-7
The Fusion squad
Picture courtesy of ultimatephotos.org
Game 2: EMO
Again a team we hadn't faced up against this season. EMO were boosted by the return of a couple of older players and looked hungry after a close loss to Fusion. We felt confident of booking our place in the semi's with a win. The first half proved a tight affair. EMO managed to stay within touching distance by some solid plays by their big names but their D line didn't trouble our offence. At half a rousing speech by Wigsy pushed the D line into action, turn overs were forced and converted and we pulled away.
Score: 15-10
Game 3: Fusion East
Our second meeting with Fusion East was again just for placement in the Semi's. The winners take the higher seed. The captains ensured Chevron were up for this and hungry to finish the day 3-0. The game lacked some intensity with Fusion having a small squad which meant they played a slow game, our offence regularly broke through their zone with some great play by Phil and the handlers. On defence we made bids on every huck and hassled the mark into mistakes. This attitude lead us into a healthy lead which Fusion couldn't regain from.
Score: 15-10
Semi Final: Fire of London
Another scorching day another semi final against Fire. If we won then we still had the control on who took the Tour title. If we lost then we were dependant on other results. The first half our offence was simply sublime, long strikes were hit perfectly and any hint of a zone was walked through. They never got scored on. Every time the O lost the disc big plays appeared to win it back or graft forced a turnover. On defence we ran hard with every man on every cut. We eventually got the turnovers and went into half 8-6 up. After half we faltered and Fire got 2 successive breaks to level the score before we put one in. Then the D line came on and after a couple of trading points stayed on all the way to 14-11. From that point on the Fire defence played excellent hard man D. Our offence took their shots but Fire got a sniff of victory and turned the screw.
Score: 14-16
At this point the tour title was out of our hands walking out of the huddle though we managed to see a hammer being brought down by Fusion.... in sudden death.... for the win against Clapham.... Amazingly the first result required had gone our way. The way it now stood was that it we took 3rd against Clapham and Fusion won their first ever tour title we would be crowned 2008 Tour Champions.
3 v 4 Game: Clapham
After the disappointment of the final at Tour 2 we went into this game with something to prove. This was enough to get the legs moving for one last time. The first point saw our offence turn over... then a huge block by Phil got us the disc back and we scored. The offence then found their flow, occasionally Clapham did manage to get a break but the defence were matching and beating them for breaks every time. Some huge plays from Rob Mitchell, Clo managing to lock out Si W and many other individual battles saw us with a healthy lead at half. The second half continued much the same and we finished the game quickly. Our job done and pride restored.
Score: 15-9
So we had secured 3rd; all it meant now was Fusion had to win... as we were sat doing team photo's and faffing Clapham informed us Fusion were 3 up on Fire. This sent the majority of Chevron running over to the finals pitch but some stayed behind with only the cheers and boo's of the final hinting at what was going on. Then it happened - Fusion scored the final winning point.
The celebrations by the victorious Fusion on pitch were matched by those of the Chevron squad on the sidelines. With Fusion winning Tour 3 we had secured the Ben Rainbow Trophy for the first time and became UKUA 2008 Tour Champions.
Matt MuckLoogaLooga