UK Student Archery Association

Strath surge and SSS shocks [04/Feb/19]

Reminder that the score submission deadline for E-League Round 3 and ArcheryGB January Challenge is tomorrow, Wed 5th Feb. For E-League, Round 3 scores can come from December and/or January. For the January Challenge - hopefully that's self-explanatory.

Results for a SSS match 4, from 26th January, have now published on the SSS 2018/19 page. UKSAA records indicate it is the second ever use of a Windsor at a university league fixture, following a SWWU match in May 2005. Back in the present day, because their entry was late, Edinburgh were restricted to only 5 archers that could count towards the team fixture.

In the match itself, Strathclyde won a SSS fixture for the first time in the all-vs-all format - brought in by SSS in 2011/12. Remarkably they are the 4th different winner of the 4 SSS matches this season. In match 4, Aberdeen landed in second place, having finished no higher than 5th in a SSS match for almost 2 years. Napier took third spot ahead of St Andrews. Top individual in the match was Guillaume Andrieux (Glasgow), just ahead of Paul Ross (St Andrews) on 293 against 291. Andrew Smith and Antreas Nicolaou (both Napier) were next, having notched 280 and 277.

Edinburgh's punishment did paint their team selection in to a corner, but their choice of 3 novice recurves and 2 (senior) compounds effectively abandoned the senior recurve match. A recurve short and fielding only novices, Edinburgh predictably plummeted to 7th. Edinburgh had a 6 point lead in the compound table going in to match 4 - given the number of clubs fielding two compounds in these matches, swapping in a recurve for a compound would have been a better option.

Saints had been one behind Edinburgh at the top of the table going in to the match. Given Edinburgh's situation, Saints should have put themselves out of sight. However 4th place saw them put only 3 points on Edinburgh but also concede 3 points to nearest challengers Strathclyde. Strathclyde vault in to a share of the lead with St Andrews on 53 points. Edinburgh sit third on 51 and Napier are on 50.

Match 5 - the final match contributing to the SSS league tables - takes place on Sat 9th Feb. Clearly predicting the winner of 2018/19 SSS matches is a fools errand. St Andrews and Strathclyde can guarantee the league title with a win - second place would be enough as long as the other one isn't first. Edinburgh would need to win and hope neither St Andrews nor Strathclyde finish second - even that may not be enough, depending on aggregate.

If Edinburgh's lengthy run as SSS league champions is brought to an end this season, it will be a great shame that it has occurred in this manner. The celebrations might still be deserved, but there will always have to be an asterisk.

SSS senior league table after:

1 match: St Andrews 15, Edinburgh 14, Strathclyde 13, Dundee 12

2 matches: Edinburgh, St Andrews, Strathclyde all 27, Napier 25

3 matches: Edinburgh 42, St Andrews 41, Strathclyde 38, Napier 37

4 matches: St Andrews, Strathclyde both 53, Edinburgh 51, Napier 50

In the novice match, Edinburgh won very comfortably indeed with all three archers just under 230. Top scorer in the match however was Tomohiro Hashizume (Strathclyde) who helped his side to second. The top 6 novices were only 7 points apart. Napier stayed second in the overall table, but were 4th in the match and are now 5 points behind Edinburgh with one match to go.

Edinburgh won the compound fixture - although they needed golds to be split from Heriot-Watt. Both sides dropped 11 points but Edinburgh had 113 "golds" to Watt's 109. Edinburgh now lead the compound table by 8 points with one match left. Had Edinburgh only fielded their top compound in the match Beth Martel, her 298 would have been enough to finish third.