Bucs Prem 16-17 Review
Late Afternoon On March 26, If You Put Your Ear To The Ground You Could Probably Hear An Audible, Yes! Go On Sterling! Throughout The Britball Nation. The Clansmen Had Secured Their Fourth National Championship, And The Programme From Durham University, Were Still The ‘Aints. Let’s Look Back Over The Last Five Months And See How The Season Unfolded For Stirling, Durham, Loughborough, Derby And Trent In The North And Their Counterparts In The South, Hertfordshire, Birmingham, Swansea, Kingston And Bath.
The new kids on the block for the 16-17 campaign were Trent in the north and Swansea in the south, both teams arrived relishing the challenge of premier division balling, and attacked the task with enthusiasm and passion, what they didn’t have however, were large numbers (make that any) of scholarship athletes. They were soon to realise that (particularly in the North) the Bucs Premier divisions are not level playing fields when it comes to game time. Effectively, the more focused your university athletic union is on winning and securing those valuable “Bucs points”, the more funding your Football programme will get.
When the games got underway it looked like business as usual in the South, where Birmingham and Hertfordshire both got off to winning starts in week one. Meanwhile in the North, we had our first “upset” when Derby edged Sterling 40-37. Week two blew the South wide open when the Bath Killer Bees put the “sting” on the Lions, inflicting a 10-7 defeat. Swansea opened their season with a win over Kingston, and Loughborough lost by one score to Stirling (the northern division was shaping up to be really tight). There was just one Premier division game in week three, and that saw the Hurricanes blow the Bees away to cement their position as the number one team in the South. Week four saw Trent almost break their duck losing out to a Loughborough field goal, whilst Swansea defeated a sluggish Bees 26-0. Birmingham against Hertfordshire looked like it would be the divisional decider, and in a close week five encounter the Hurricanes inflicted the Lions’ second defeat of the season 35-30. Up North, Loughborough got into gear defeating an inconsistent Derby side. It’s now week six, and in the last games of the first half of the season, Birmingham got back to winning ways, and Stirling got the better of a plucky travelling Trent outfit. Over the Christmas break, the teams had the chance to reflect on the early games and adjust their strategies accordingly.
The first and only action in the New Year (week seven) saw Derby inflict Trent’s second loss to a single field goal, to keep them in the play-off picture. Moving into week eight, and it’s wins for Stirling, Birmingham and Durham (for now). Week nine saw the traditional powerhouses dominate, as Birmingham put 31 unanswered points on Kingston, and Stirling despatch Derby 48-12. Loughborough were hanging in on the play-offs race when they squeaked past Trent 7-3, and in another ultra-close finish, Swansea beat Bath 8-7.
I was at this point in the season that a dark cloud gathered over the Durham programme. It came to light, that their scholarship quarterback, Dominic Bona, who had played the previous season professionally in Finland was subject to a ban, following a failed doping test. The authorities at Durham were apparently unaware of this when they recruited him. Following an investigation, BUCS decided that the games in which he had played (five victories) should be awarded as “involuntary walk-overs” to their opponents, leaving them with a 0-5 record to this point.
It’s now week ten, and with a “new” quarterback in place Durham set about ensuring they would still see post-season action, they beat a faltering Derby, whilst Sterling, Birmingham and Division leaders Hertfordshire continued their winning streaks. The following round of games (week eleven) threw up a shock result, when Swansea became truly titanic and got the better of the Hurricanes 27-20. Loughborough looked to have secured play-off action with a defeat of the Braves, and Durham edged nearer the post-season with a win at Trent. With week twelve being the last round of regular season games, the following outfits secured their place in the play-offs, Stirling, Loughborough, Derby and Durham of the North, would match up against Bath, Swansea, Birmingham and Hertfordshire of the South. Given the penalty imposed by the BUCS authorities, Durham would now be classed as the fourth seed in the North, and would travel to Hertfordshire, something the Hurricanes were aggrieved about, feeling that as southern champions, they should have a less challenging route to the final. As it transpired, the strength was clearly in the Northern division, as all their four teams beat their southern adversaries, setting up semi-final match ups that pitched Stirling against Derby and Loughborough against Durham. Both semi-finals were won by one score, setting up a Championship game between Stirling and Durham.
Going into the final, the groundswell of support was for Stirling, clearly Durham had won themselves few friends throughout the season. The game started with a long drive by Stirling, which ate up seven minutes of the quarter. The Clansmen had Donat-Garcia, their QB1 back under centre and he fed Cambell who delivered a number of punishing runs. They were unable to get the ball in the endzone however, and had to settle for a field goal, 3-0 Stirling. Durham attempted to counter with their much used scholar-to-scholar connection of Brigham to Dawson, and looked threatening, but a key interception by Stirling ensured that the Saints didn’t trouble the scorer in the first half. The Clansman attempted a further field goal, but the kick was unsuccessful, and despite some flashes by both teams, it was 3-0 Stirling at the half.
With the third quarter under way Durham put together an impressive drive. Quarterback Matt Brigham was scrambling well and extending plays with his feet, but the hero became the villain, when as his running back burst into the endzone on a spectacular run, Brigham made an illegal block in the back, and the score was wiped off. He continued to drive the Saints, and early in the final quarter ran in for a short yardage touchdown, which was converted to give Durham the lead 7-3. The Clansmen were not to be outdone, putting together a drive of their own. Brigham, playing both ways, blotted his copybook with a late hit out of bounds, which led to some debate as to whether the two fifteen yard penalties he had incurred meant he should leave the game (he didn’t). The penalty gave Stirling the ball on the five yard line, and Donat-Garcia scampered in to restore the lead. The PAT was good, and with 3 minutes 15 second left in the game it’s now 10-7 Clansmen. Durham have one last chance to come back, Brigham drives them down inside the Stirling ten yard line, then weaves his way into the endzone, but not so fast! Durham are called for a chop-block penalty and the score doesn’t count. An incomplete pass with ten seconds on the clock, sees the Saints field goal unit enter the field with four seconds left, looking for a field goal to tie the game and send it to over-time. The snap flies back but the holder fumbles the ball, the game is over, and Stirling are the Champions!
The football gods it would seem, had frowned on Durham.
It was a great match to end the season, but going forward, it would be great if every BUCS team took a coach load to the game, with over eighty teams in competition, that should lead to over 5,000 fellow ballers cheering on their peers in a show of support.