After winning the 2010 edition of the University League, UCC compete in the BUCS UKU University Open Outdoor Nationals.

After winning the 2010 edition of the University League, UCC headed to Sheffield on March 12th to compete in the BUCS UKU University Open Outdoor Nationals. A strong 16-man team was sent, with aspirations of improving on the 9th place finish in the same competition the year before.

UCC were seeded 9th in Division 1 of the tournament, and 3rd seed in their pool alongside Edinburgh Ro Sham Bo (4th seeds), Loughborough Haze (6th seeds) and Sussex Mohawks (16th seeds).

An early start on Saturday allowed us to get to the pitches well on time and facilitated a good warmup. The weather was quite windy, but at least it was blue skies for most of the day. The tournament started with a tough opening match against Edinburgh. UCC initially took the lead, against an Edinburgh team that was slow to start. The Scots soon got in to their stride and rallied to take the half by a few points of points. We upped our game in the second half and brought the score back to 9-8. Some failed conversions in the endzone when playing into a strong wind eventually took their toll on UCC with the scoreline finishing 12-9 in favour of Ro Sham Bo. Despite losing, we felt enamoured by our performance against the 4th seeds and confident that we could progress from our group.

The second game of the day was against Loughborough. UCC made great use of our hucking game with the wind, consistently pulling down score after score in the Loughborough endzone. This, coupled with one upwind point allowed us to win the game on universe point 12-11 with a long huck from A-game Ray Williams to Ben Roske.

The last pool game was against Sussex Mohawks, whom UCC had lost to in the same competition last year. It was, in no uncertain terms, a grudge match. The initiative was with the Hawks initially, and some smart play saw them go 3-0 up. UCC finally got things together after some tough words from captain Ray Considine and got on the scoreboard. The strong crosswind was proving difficult to deal with though and the Hawks maintained the early 3 point advantage to take half. UCC scored some nice upwind points in the second half, but the Hawks ran out 11-8 winners in a game that was tough, littered with fouls and calls, and where being streetwise reaped rewards.

So having won one and lost two, UCC found themselves in a crossover against the 8th seeds, Cardiff No Frills. This time UCC got the better of the crosswind courtesy of some good handling by James Finn, MVP Brian O’Callaghan and Leo Yoshida. We stormed in to an early lead and took half by a few points. We maintained our cool throughout the second half and ended up seeing out the match 12-5, with Cormac Mc Auliffe sealing our place in the quarter finals. So, at the end of day one we were now ranked as 8th seeds, meaning we had beaten our seeding by one, and would start the following morning with an encounter against 1st seeds, Warwick Bears

We retired to our hotel in Sheffield thoroughly exhausted but proud of the fact that whatever would come to pass the following day, we had set a record for an Irish placed team in this tournament. Sunday started early, with windy conditions once more. Everyone was looking forward to the first game, a chance to test ourselves against the very best. The game against Warwick started at a blistering pace, with the Bears using their hucking to great effect. UCC initially struggled to overcome their tight defence in the stack, and Warwick sprinted towards the half, taking it 7-2. At this stage we realised that there was no pressure on us against the first seeds, so we relaxed and started to play some great ultimate. UCC started to challenge Warwick with a hucking game of their own, and great play by MSP Dylan Leighton, Donal Murray, Lorcán Murray and Ray Considine on offence allowed us to pick off some good scores. Intensity was upped on defence, with Richard Hobson particularly effective in stopping Warwick from building up any momentum. After owning much of the second half the score now stood at 8-8, and the sizeable crowd on the sideline sensed an upset. The Bears showed some steel after panicking somewhat to get two unanswered scores and take the tie 10-8. While very disappointed on what was a huge opportunity missed, we felt extremely proud of the way we had played and encouraged by the words said by the Bears captain after the game. This defeat meant that the highest we could finish was 5th place, and so that became our target for the day.

Our next game was against Manchester Halcyon. Spirits were rallied by a rousing speech by Donal Murray before the game that got everyone’s blood boiling green. This intensity was immediately transferred on to the pitch where we started at 800mph and stormed to a 7-2 half-time lead, with great grabs by Curtis Irvine and huge layouts by Raymond Williams contributing to a great start. UCC then made the big mistake giving in to complacency which saw Manchester score five unanswered points to tie the game 7-7 in universe point. Stakes were high at this stage with fouls and calls punctuating play. UCC had a saviour though in the form of Richard Hobson who stepped up when needed to score the winning point. Despite terse and frank captains’ speeches at the end, we were happy with the victory, though we realised that we would have to up our game if we were to beat LSE Beavers in the playoff for 5th place.

UCC started this game well, scoring upwind straight from the off. We effectively employed zone D against the Beavers which saw multiple turnovers in our favour. Some clinical passing by Donal O’Donohoe and Mark Fanning led to some great scores, and UCC maintained their intensity right to the end of this final game to win out 11-6 against the high-spirited Beavers. This meant that 5th place out of 32 teams was captured by UCC, an Irish record.

The final was contested by Edinburgh Ro Sham Bo and last years’ losing finalists Portsmouth Sublime. The men from the south coast started well and took a big lead in to half time with help from an effective zone D. In the second-half Edinburgh, with the support of the crowd, began to break down this zone and brought the game back to 9-8. However, Portsmouth finished the stronger and won out 11-9 in the end.

Overall , we were all proud of the way we had played and what we had achieved over the weekend. If things had gone slightly different against Edinburgh and Warwick the weekend may have turned out even better, but there was still lots to learn from these defeats. From a squad point of view, each of the 16 players upped their game to meet the challenge of this high quality tournament. Particular praise must go to Ray Williams and Richard Hobson who excelled throughout the weekend with their skills and intensity, and also to MVP Brian O’Callaghan who hucked, scored, cut and scored again all weekend. Our four beginners also showed that they can step up to the mark when called upon, and keep their heads cool in tight situations. UCC learned a great deal from playing many different university teams, something that will stand us in good stead for the remainder of the University season and in the years to come. The future is indeed bright.