Open Tour 1
Last year was a bit of a disappointment for CUlt Open; we finished in relegation places twice, and then a severely depleted squad meant that we placed half way down B Tour at Tour 3. This year is the beginning of the rebuilding process, with the goal to solidify our place in A Tour over the next couple of years. Tour 1 this year saw us start in B Tour, which gave us a great opportunity to blood the new faces and begin the process of gelling as a team. We were seeded 5th, second in our pool.
CUlt 15-1 Devon 2
Devon had lost a few players to their first team, and were bottom seeds in the pool. This match gave us the opportunity for lots of endzone practice, as we generally turned them over right by their endzone and then converted. It was a great warm up game in terms of preparing for the big match against Leeds next.
CUlt 15-10 LLLeeds
Last year at Tour 2 we walked into the storm that was Leeds and got well and truly destroyed, going down 5-0 at one point. This time we were determined to reverse the pleasure, and taking a 3-0 lead, we were doing so. They then woke up and it was soon 3-3. We took half 8-6 and pushed on from there; the big difference was shutting down their deep shots, and a more clinical offense. We showed that we were able to adapt to the opposition, which was good to see early on the weekend.
CUlt 15-8 Cardiff Storm
Passing the scoreboard at 3-2, it was a bit of a shock that as Cardiff scored, it became 4-2. We didn't come out of the blocks, and their deep shots were connecting consistently. A timeout later, we began the process of stifling their run, and managed to take half 8-6. Once again hitting our flow, we only conceded two more points, but it was a definite wake up call that we couldn't take this weekend for granted.
With that match done, we finished the day in 3rd place, and would be against EMO 2 in the 3 v 6.
CUlt 15-6 EMO 2
EMO were a small squad, but had some very strong players, and we traded early on. Once again, we worked hard to shut down their deep shots, and in combination with a few high disc battles going our way, we managed to take half. From there we pushed on, and the D line finally began to gel with their dump and swing. Into the semi finals we went, against 2nd seeds Pelt.
CUlt 15-4 Pelt
Pelt were an Irish team who had just come off a very close game against NEO. They had a small squad, and played a HO stack with short open side cuts. We knew that if we could come out hard and tire them, it would give us a great chance in the second half. They played as we had anticipated, but were taking the deep shots when the opportunity presented itself. We showed different defenses at various times, which worked to generate turns. Once again the D line was clicking, and with the O line barely turning, and the opposition's legs tiring, we romped home in the second half.
CUlt 15-12 LLLeeds
Guaranteed promotion into A Tour with that victory, we had one final job to do, which was to win our rematch against Leeds and take the title. Both squads were tiring, but despite this there was some fantastic play on either side, layout D's and great grabs everywhere. We took 3 breaks into the final third of the match, but Leeds rallied a final time. Fortunately we had enough in the tank, and Howard threw a trademark bladey flick to JR for the victory, and championship title!
It was a fantastic weekend, and for the most part we executed our game plans well. The O line made Ultimate look like child's play for the most part, and by the end of the weekend the D were not only generating the blocks, but converting too. Tour 2 will see us in A Tour, where we get the opportunity to begin working our way up the leaderboard. MVP went to new boy Sam Hawkins for some serious impressive defensive blocks and ever reliable handling and cutting.
Tull
