Tour 1 - Clapham take on Europe

Post date: Jun 8, 2012 8:46:43 AM

A depleted Clapham take on the best of Europe's national sides....

This last weekend saw the start of the Club season with Tour 1 at a sunny St Albans.

This was a far cry from the muddy early-season sparring in Bristol in years gone by. Some fantastic work by Si Hill and the UKUA in the last few years has turned Tour 1 into the premier tournament in Europe with teams regularly travelling from the continent.

With world championships approaching the team list included Netherlands, France, Austria, Germany, GB Open and even Sweden made the trip.

The inclusion of GB meant Clapham were missing 8 key players and were left with a mixture of old heads and fresh young blood. 15 strong.

Game 1. A solid Austria team coached by some old German master. Without appearing to have any big standout players and a lot of youth, it felt like they’d roll over after a few early breaks from Clapham. But some weak Clapham marks and a few cheap turnovers kept them in the game. Clapham took half 8-7.

In the second half Clapham continued to be disorganised and misfiring, while Austria proved hard to get the disc off. A few long sloppy points later and the game was at sudden death.

Unfortunately for Clapham, this was one of the only times Austria hit an accurate ping. Game over. Clapham now had to beat Germany to avoid coming bottom of the group.

Game 2. Ze Germans. Essentially the German junior team who’d won Europeans in 2007. These guys were young, fast and efficient. They were disappointed to get only a bronze at last years Euros and had clearly worked on their mistakes and came out clinical. Clapham found a little more rhythm but remained frustrated, complacent and were punished. Never really looked like winning and went down 15-10?

We were bottom of the group and now seed 10. I wasn’t even sure there was a way back to the quarters from here. Memories of Mainz in 2004 came flooding back….

Game 3. Fire of London. Fortunately there was a way back to the quarters vs Fire who had also lost a few players to GB. A satisfactory yet uninspiring performance and we ran out easy winners.

Now seeded 7^th our crossover would be vs seed 2 GB Open, on a high from just beating Sweden in the Saturday night show game.

Quarter-final. GB Open.

GB Open were at full strength featuring 8 Clapham players. As the clear underdogs Clapham had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Pre-game there was the expected banter between the sides with a few songs coming from GB (John Lennon would not be proud). This all fuelled the Clapham fire which was about to be unleashed…

Suddenly there was structure. Cutting lanes opened up. Resets were smooth and aggressive.

On offence Cian O’Morain and Chris Baker were nailing hucks from all over the pitch, keeping the defence guessing and giving cutters freedom downfield.

On defence the Japanese style zone spearheaded by Kai Yoko, Hero and Oliver “samurai” Benjamin was sometimes painfully exposed by GB, but equally came up with the goods on several occasions.

We traded to about 4-4 when Clapham got their first break and after trading a break breaks Clapham went into halftime a break ahead.

Suddenly GB had a game on their hands. But surely their superior numbers and squad depth would see them through the second half?

Trading continued in the second half with both D lines struggling to convert their blocks. On offence hucks continued to find receivers, with some big grabs from new boys Smiley and Nick.

Finally Clapham worked the disc against the wind and got another break.

14-11 Clapham. On the brink of an epic victory, toppling the national side – could it really be true?

Sadly closing the game out was another matter. Choke time. Some simple turns gave GB 2 easy breaks and we were at 14-14. Sudden death.

Our nerve held, and the strong deep game earlier on meant GB’s D was desperate not be get scored on long, so it proved easy enough to take the underneaths on the open side.

15-14. A depleted Clapham topple the national side! What a victory – we’ll remember that for years! GB are left to play out for 5^th

Semi-final. Sweden (still buzzing from their Eurovision win the night before) This was straight after the Quarter and it showed. Sweden made us pay for a few easy turns and ran out 15-11? winners with their clinical offence.

Bronze medal game. Austria. We had all wanted to forget that pool play loss the day before, but suddenly we had the chance to avenge the game. We were hoping our newfound slick play would see us through comfortably, but it inevitably turned into a Sunday afternoon dog-fight with both teams physically exhausted. The game AGAIN went to sudden death, but this time Clapham came out on top, scoring in 4 passes.

A fantastic weekend! While other Tour 1’s have been relegated to memories best forgotten, this one will stick in the mind for years!!

Final standings:

1. Germany 2. Sweden 3. Clapham 4. Austria 5. GB 6. Chevron

Should the club champions represent GB next time around? All but one of that team would have been eligible…

Colin Shaw