Friday November 2 2007varsity.co.uk/sportWrite for this section:sport@varsity.co.ukSPORT39Old firm thriller drawn» Samuelson hat-trick not enough as spirited Jesus stay topJESUSHINDSON 45KURWIE 55, 653ST. JOHN’SSAMUELSON 10, 15, 58Ed WillisSports Reporter3The two major forces of the collegehockey game came head to head onWednesday. But you wouldn’t haverealised it five minutes before thestart as Jesus and John’s casuallyknocked hockey balls around againstthe crisp autumnal background ofthe Granchester meadows. It wasthe calm before the storm.John’s flew at Jesus from the firstwhistle; sharp, first to every balland full of guile in attack. Withina minute captain James Goldsmithfed an intelligent through ball intothe path of Oli Samuelson, who finishedcoolly into the bottom corner.Worse was to come for Jesus, whenthe ball again found its way to Samuelsonafter good work from MartinMacQuarrie down the right handside, and some non-existent defendingleft him with the simple task oftapping in to make it 2-0.P W D L GFGA GD PtsJESUS 2 2 0 0 5 1 4 6CORPUS CHRISTI 2 2 0 0 6 4 2 6CAMBRIDGE CITY 2 1 0 1 7 3 4 3ST CATHARINE’S 2 1 0 1 3 3 0 3ST JOHN’S 2 1 0 1 3 3 0 3CAIUS 2 0 0 2 4 6 -2 0EMMANUEL 2 0 0 2 1 9 -8 0How they stood before this fixtureJesus were stunned, forced tospectate as John’s zipped the ballaround, creating neat triangles andproducing some entertaining hockey.Captain Goldsmith was in completecontrol, sweeping up everythingin front of the back three andkeeping possession with immaculatedistribution. At this stage, anysort of contest seemed as good asover. Theo Burke was imperious inthe middle of the park, fed by thecomposed passing of Chris Paluchdown the left.As Jesus found their feet though,an element of structure returnedto proceedings as both sides madeplain their intention to play good,attractive hockey. The ball wasbeing played well across the backlines as both teams looked to buildSport In BriefBasketball Blues beatenat the last by WarwickThe Cambridge Blues lost out 86– 87 against Warwick.They started off with a fast-pacedoffence that capitalised on wellexecutedfast breaks. However,Warwick mounted an equally impressiveoffensive in the first quarterand held the lead by five pointsafter ten minutes of play.Following Blues substitutions,a trapping defence by Warwickextended the lead to 13 at the half.But the Blues battled back in thethird quarter. The fourth quarterended with a tie and the game enteredovertime. Warwick quicklyassumed a 5 point lead, but theBlues pulled it back but in the endcouldn’t clinch the game.Jesus rallied after John’s had stormed into an early leadattacks from deep. The momentumbegan to shift in the later stages ofthe first half as Jesus grew in confidence,often constructing attacksOne to Watch»Chris RobinsonPosition:John’s GoalkeeperStrengths:Shot stopping. Chris pulled offsome great, athletic saves to denyJesus strikersClosing down attack- comes offhis goal line quickly to cut offshotsRugby Blues fail tocapitalise against EsherLast Tuesday the Rugby Blues tookon Esher away on a cold, frostyevening. Despite a strong opening20 minutes, Cambridge were unableto convert pressure into points andthen let in a couple of soft tries toallow Esher to get ahead. The Blueswill not be happy with the 29-12 lossand will have to target a big winagainst London Irish next weekUniversity Fours updateFirst and Third Trinity BC narrowlyavoided being knocked out of theUniversity IVs competition by twofar less experienced Downing crews.Whilst the FaT IV- defeated an inexperiencedClare boat, which struggledto find form at any point on thecourse, both IV+ boats were pushedhard by some rapid Downing crews.Downing appeared to find their formin the Autumn Head a fortnight agoand went into the competition withhigh hopes. The ladies final will seethe Emmanuel boat face a dominantChrist’s IV+. . Both crews are drawnfrom some of the most experiencedsquads on the Cam and carry withthem high hopes for the FairbairnsCup. The finals will go off at 2pmthis afternoon.MICHAEL DERRINGERfrom the right through Ben Moores.On a couple of occasions they werea stick’s width away from divertingcrosses into the net, and Nick Pettycame agonisingly close, followinga short corner. It was at this stagethat new John’s keeper Chris Robinsonbegan to shine, pulling off anumber of astonishing saves andvisibly frustrating Jesus captainJames Waters. Despite their dominanceleading up to the interval, Jesuscould not find the breakthroughand John’s went into half time twogoals to the good.Jesus continued where they left offat the start of the second period, andwithin minutes they had a goal back.The impressive James Madden setoff on a marauding run from deep,slipped the ball to James Hindsonwho coolly flicked home on his reverseside. The pace and thoughtfulrunning of Ed Bush and Chris Kurwiewas starting to panic the John’sdefence, no longer the confident unitthat started the game. Suddenly itwas all square as Kurwie benefitedfrom a smart short corner routine toscore.It seemed a matter of time beforeJesus would get the third, butto their credit, John’s were not preparedto lie down and once again thisremarkable game produced a surprise.Against the run of play, John’smounted a break away and after aJack Yeland shot was parried, Samuelsonwas able to complete his hattrick,to the disbelief of the Jesusplayers. 3-2 to John’s and from thenon, the game settled into a familiarpattern, as Jesus threw everythingat the heroic Robinson’s goal. Eventuallythe pressure told as John’sNeither captain wassatisfied at the finalwhistledallied in midfield, and Kurwie againpounced on a good cut back from theright to fire in the equaliser.The score line stayed at 3-3 for thelast few minutes and although neithercaptain was satisfied at the finalwhistle, it was probably a fair reflectionon a pulsating game of hockey.Lax Girls take on ExeterStanley leads the chargeOn Wedesday the Lacrosse Bluesplayed host to Exeter at the Queen’spitches. The team performed well,romping home with an impressive10-2 victory over a shambolic Westcountry side.News from theRiverThis past weekend featured ourfirst trip to the Tideway, the infamousstretch of the Thamesthat runs through Central London.Aptly named, the river ismassively tidal, with depths fluctuatingby up to ten meters onextreme tides. It is an unforgivingstretch of water, but one thatwe must come to embrace, as itplays host to the Boat Race everyyear. And until I become wealthyenough to buy the stretch of theThames between Putney andMortlake, drain it, and turn it intoa Go-Cart track, we will unfortunatelyhave to continue loving themiserable conditions it provides.Weekly trips to London necessitatea more urgent schedulethroughout the week. We have topack up boats and ship them afterpractice to London, where theywill be subsequently unpackedand stored in our boathouse therefor the weekend’s outings. ComeSunday afternoon, this process isreversed for the return to Cambridge.Supervisions and lecturesmust be crammed into one of thethree days we are home, sinceThursday morning marks ourreturn to London to contest theFours race I spoke of last week.But despite the stress and constraintsthese trips impose on ourschedule, I think I speak for theteam in saying we look forward tothem. It offers a welcome breakfrom the monotony of training atEly, absent from any boats otherthan those composed of your teammates.And the Thames, althoughchoppy and plagued by boat traffic,is something one comes toform a love-hate relationship withafter weeks spent cursing it. Ithas sunk crews before, includingmost recently a near sinking ofthe 2006 boat, yet that is somethingwe cherish rather than fear.Our mentality is reminiscent ofMuhammad Ali’s in his preparationfor the Rumble in the Jungle,his famous bout with thenHeavyweight champion GeorgeForeman. In the two months leadingup to the fight, Ali employedthe heaviest-hitting boxers hecould find to pummel him againstthe ropes, sometimes for hourson end. The constant abuse wasmeant to acclimatize his body tothe sort of blunt trauma he wouldexperience in fighting Foreman.And it worked. The rope-a-dopestrategy wore Foreman down untilAli could deliver several knockoutblows, eventually ending Foreman’sreign in the eighth round.I will never claim that our afternoonson the Tideway are remotelysimilar to or as intense as Ali’spreparation. However, the intentionand design is the same. Whena massive barge hauls down the riverand creates a wake that breaksover our bow, everyone in the crewresponds with bursts of strength,never anger. We take pride in themisery of our water, and train everyday to own the most uncomfortablevenue imaginable, much likethe ropes Ali dug into during theseven rounds of hell he enduredbefore delivering his final blow.Spencer Griffin Hunsberger
Friday November 2 2007varsity.co.uk/sportSPORTNetball nailbiter»Crawshaw inspires Blues fightback to stun BirminghamFootballers loseout to Coventryp38Tennis Bluesseal top spotCAMBRIDGE6LOUGHBOROUGH II4CAMBRIDGE35<strong>Varsity</strong> CorrespondentBIRMINGHAM II33Henry StannardSports EditorHaving lost narrowly last weekaway against Loughborough, thenetball girls were back on homeground in the post-apocalypticsetting of Haverhill looking tomake it three wins out of fouragainst a strong Birmingham side.The Birmingham team, relyingheavily on the stunning vision andpassing ability of their pivotal centre,seized the initiative with a seven-goalblitz midway through thefirst quarter, helped both by the fluidityof their attacking movementand some sloppy passing by theBlues. Worse was to follow for Cambridge,as they spent the closingstages of the quarter camped out inthe final third and yet were unableto engineer many clear scoring positionsfor Goal Shooter Bec Crawshaw,who was enjoying an evenlymatched aerial battle with herstrong but agricultural defensivecounterpart, ending the quarter onegoal behind the Midlanders at 12-11.The next two quarters saw littlechange. While the Blues huffed andpuffed to ram their way into shootingpositions, the Birmingham girls,confident in the pace and guile oftheir counter-attack, converted interceptionsinto points with almostmetronomic regularity. The constantrunning of all-action Wing AttackEmma Darke proved a reliable outletas the Blues remained in contentionwhilst never quite gaining the lead.The Cambridge team reachedthe final quarter still in it with thescore 22-25. They started strongly,reducing the deficit to one pointbefore some fumbling in the finalthird denied them taking thelead. At the other end disciplinestarted to evaporate as the defencewere found guilty of obstructionwith increased regularity, giftingeasy chances to the opposition.As the half drew to a close withCambridge down 32-26, it lookedas though they had been beaten,with the Birmingham playersalready looking forward toreturning home with a victory.It was then that the entire complexionof the match changed.Starting with a superb interceptionby Sarah Warren, Cambridge wentup the other end and put Nicholsonin what looked to be a sure-firescoring position in front of the net,when the Birmingham centre, in adisgraceful act of gamesmanship,went down feigning injury to delaythe shot and put off the shooter.Nicholson, however, seemed unperturbedand coolly slotted home.Cambridge then suddenly foundthe belief to penetrate the Birminghamdefence at will, with Crawshawlooking unstoppable and Nicholsongrubbing every rebound inCambridge TeamsheetGK: Kerry BloxhamGD: Sarah Warren (C)WD: Sophie Hebbelthwaite SharpC: Rachel Rose SmithWA: Emma Darke/Amy TillGA: Jo NicholsonGS: Rebecca CrawshawReserve: Heather EmmersonBUSA Netball - Midlands ConferenceWomen’s 1A 2007/08P W D L F A PtLOUGHBOROUGH II 3 3 0 0 140 101 9OXFORD 3 2 0 1 147 77 6CAMBRIDGE 3 2 0 1 107 105 6BIRMINGHAM III 3 1 0 2 79 131 3BIRMINGHAM II 3 1 0 2 115 114 3NOTTINGHAM II 3 0 0 3 80 140 0sight. Rachel Rose Smith at Centrealso gained mastery over hertricky counterpart and was finallyable to dictate the attacking play.When a Crawshaw long shotlevelled the scores with ninetyseconds remaining, there was onlyever going to be one winner. Thebeleaguered Birmingham girls,stunned by the ferocity of the Cambridgecomeback seemed almost tostep aside for Crawshaw to pop upand calmly score the goal that putCambridge comeback in the dying seconds brought them the winthem 34-33 ahead, before anotherfine interception by Warren led toanother goal on the final whistle.It was a phenomenal team performanceby this young Bluesside to haul themselves back intoa game they had trailed sincethe third minute, and afterwardsSOPHIE PICKFORDteam captain Warren raved aboutthe spirit demonstrated by hersquad, admitting that “at fivegoals down none of us really imaginedthis would happen.” Ifthey carry on playing as they finishedhere nothing will be beyondthe scope of their imagination.On Wednesday the Tennis Bluestravelled away to Loughborough toplay their university’s second team.In what turned out to be a grippingfixture, the Blues edged out the oppositionto win 6-4, sending them to thetop of their BUSA Midlands division.At first it looked as though Cambridgewould cruise home to a comfortablevictory as the first doublespair eased to an 8-3 win in an extendedBUSA doubles set. But the otherdoubles match proved to be trulymemorable: coming back after savingthree match points the Cambridgepair took it to a tie break whichthey won 12-10. One of the newestmembers of the team, Nick Jenkinsshowed his ability to perform underpressure, putting away some baseline volleys on his second serve to defendmatch points.Cambridge came out of the doublesmatch 2-0 up but the heavierweighting of the singles matchesmeant that there was still everythingto play for. New boy Jenkinscame up against a very strongLoughborough player who edgedthe fourth seed out, but the Bluescaptain, Jon Tassell dominated inan easy straight sets victory over ayounger, less experienced opponent.Cambridge’s number three seedJohn Western ensured victory witha clinical defeat of his opponent, theLoughborough number two seed. Heserved out the match comfortably togive the Blues an unassailable six outof ten points. Rob Blythe’s defeat atthe hands of a very strong left-handercould not affect the final result andCambridge came home victorious,leap-frogging Loughborough to takethe top spot on their table.After the match the team’s captainJon Tassell described himself as“very pleased with the performance,especially the efforts of Nick Jenkinsin his debut Blues match. Jenkins andWestern showed some nerve to fendoff three match points.”Cambridge now go on to play OxfordBrookes next Wednesday inwhat should prove an easy matchbefore taking on Nottingham later inNovember.
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