Cardiff Uni finish 7th at Southerns

A 7th placed finish at the BUSA Southerns in Norwich means that Cardiff University have achieved their first objective, of qualifying for the Student Nationals in Sheffield. After the disappointment of failing to do so last year, that in itself is a big step forwards.

Welsh League Update

After 3 weeks of the season, the WKL is just starting to take shape. The withdrawal of Newbridge and a couple of postponments means that its to early to evaluate some of the teams, but already pre-season favourites, Cardiff Fury and Cardiff University 1 have moved to the top of the table. In week 3, they played each other in what was comfortably the highest standard match of the season so far. With excellent defence on both sides, the uni team managed to pull ahed by landing the long-shots that had been missing against their second team in their previous fixture. With a 4-1 lead, they were looking favourites, but Fury dragged them back inexorably and then took a 5-4 lead. Uni hit back again though to draw the match at 6 apiece.

Elsewhere in the league, it’s too early to say how most of the teams will perform, but the biggest surprise is probably Icetalon propping up the league with 3 defeats. Cursed by injuries and unavailability so far, they have clearly under-performed, but if they actually manage to get their best team out on the field then they are clearly a match for anyone.

More generally, the aim that the WKL should be more balanced and competitive than last season seems to have been fulfilled admirably. No margin of victory has exceeded 4 goals and  no individual has yet managed more than 3 goals in a game.

Uni 1 vs Fury

Home	Cardiff University 1	6	Away	Cardiff Fury	6
Venue	Talybont		Ref	Josh Cockburn

Icetalon vs Fireclaw

Home	Cardiff Icetalon	5	Away	Cardiff Fireclaw	7
Venue	Talybont		Ref	Jack McNamara

Uni 1 vs Uni 2

Home	Cardiff Uni 1	10	Away	Cardiff Uni 2	6
Venue	Talybont		Ref	Josh Cockburn

Barbarians vs Fury

Home	Cardiff City Barbarians	4	Away	Cardiff Fury	8
Venue	Howells School		Ref	Ceri Jones

Hurricanes vs Dragons B Match Sheet

Home	Cardiff City Hurricanes	9	Away	Cardiff Dragons B	5
Venue	Howells School		Ref	Jack Newman

Wales wins in the Netherlands

Following the Stadskanaal tournament on the Saturday, Wales played international matches on the Sunday against Slovakia and Luxembourg and impressively managed to win both. Both games represented a measure of revenge as Luxembourg had beaten Wales in a penalty shoot-out to determine 5/6 place on the previous day, while Slovakia had beaten Wales in probably the biggest match in Welsh korfball history, the EuroBowl final, earlier in 2008.

Full report on the IKF site.

Wales at Stadskanaal Tournament

For the second year, Wales took part in the international tournament organised by Dutch club Stadskanaal 74 in Groningen. As well as the host club the 8 participating sides included the national teams of Slovakia, Luxembourg, Wales and Scotland, plus 2 clubs from Germany and one from Stockholm. 

According to the Stadskanaal site the final placings were as follows:

1 – Albatros
2 – Stadskanaal ‘74
3 – Slovakia
4 – Tus Wesseling
5 – Luxembourg
6 – Wales
7 – Scotland
8 – SKK Stockholm

EKA Cup exits

Both Welsh clubs were eliminated in the first round of the EKA Cup this weekend, but both produced good performances in doing so, and Cardiff City were particularly close to qualifying.

Following the withdrawal of Trojans 2, City were faced with a single tie vs Nomads 2 to determine qualification for the last 16. In an agonisingly tight finish, the game was 10-10 at full-time, only for the London team to squeeze through 11-10 on golden goal.

Cardiff Dragons were away at North Downs, with Bec 3 making up the third team in the pool. North Downs and Bec played first, with the experience of the home team just being enough to win them the match 8-7. Bec then played Dragons and the first half was very tight, finishing 3-3. However, in the second half the speed and movement of the Bec girls created loads of opportunities, while Dragons began to panic in attack and the game ran away very quickly. It finished 11-4 to Bec.

Rather than letting their heads go down, Dragons raised themselves to one of the best performances in the clubs short history to beat North Downs. As shots began to drop in, confidence and energy grew amongst the team and they played close to their potential.

Dragons 4-11 Bec 3

Remco Broekhuis (2), Jack McNamara (1), Joey Niblett (1), Amy Shillabeer, Claire Knowles, Jennifer Smith, Josh Cockburn, Sally Adlen, Sian Hunt, Steve Fung

Dragons 8-7 North Downs

Josh Cockburn (3), Jack McNamara (1), Jennifer Smith (1), Joey Niblett (1), Remco Broekhuis (1), Sally Adlen (1), Amy Shillabeer, Sian Hunt