BUCS Roundup – 9/11/16

MMU Sport spotlight team Men’s Basketball 1s continued their superb start to the season with another victory. This week they faced Sheffield Hallam 1s as they looked to consolidate their position at the top of Northern 1A. Men’s 1s won 75-62 to take their record for the season to 5-0. Captain David Metcalf said, “This week's game was a big one for us as it’s meant we’ve now beaten all the times in our league to reach 5-0.

“Finally as a team we’re really clicking and today proved that with everyone contributing and getting behind each other.

“The season for us has started really well and it’s looking really positive moving forwards, just got to stay focused and carry this momentum on to reach the play-off for promotion.”

Men’s Football 2s travelled to Lancaster for the second round of the cup. In a strong team performance, they noted a 6-0 win and progress into the next round. Luke Sands, 2s Captain, said “we were all absolutely outstanding, it was 2-0 at half time after a slow start but the game ended 6-0 after an incredible effort by all in the second half.

“Man of the match could have been anyone but went to Thomas Abbey. Big round next with a potential draw at Uni of Manchester."

More results from cup fixtures this week include remarkable victories for Women’s Basketball, Men’s Rugby Union 1s, and Women’s Hockey 3s.

Adding their fifth straight victory in Premier North was Men's Waterpolo 1s in a thrilling 11-2 victory over the University of Edinburgh. The continuing winning streak for Men's Waterpolo see's them extend their lead over rivals Northumbria in their first season in the Premier North division.

A second trip to Cumbria in a number of weeks for Women’s Basketball saw a very similar result. In what is perhaps MMU’s finest result of the week, Women’s Basketball beat Cumbria 119-0. Chair Saira Hillyard said, “today’s game went really well, with a 119-0 win the girls showed great commitment and sportsmanship.

“We played with confidence and todays result makes me very excited for the rest of the reason.”

Men’s Rugby Union 1s played neighbours University of Manchester 3s. They went into this game on the back of a defeat to Liverpool and were definitely fired up to get back to winning ways. Men’s Rugby Union 1s certainly did just that. The game ended with an astonishing 84-0 as MMU dominated all aspects of the game from start to finish.

Whilst recording their first win of the season, Women’s Hockey 3s also progressed into the next round of the cup. They played Chester 2s and ran out 5-2 winners. Captain Hayley Barker said, “so proud of my team today, everyone wanted the ball and fought for it.

“We had some insane goals, one scored in the first two minutes which made us want it more. We want to make it far in the cup this year and if we play like we did today we could win it.

“Caitlin Postlethwaite scored three very impressive goals today.”

Women's Tennis faced local rivals the University of Manchester in a clash in Northern 1A. The match finished in a 6-6 draw.

Women’s Hockey 2s also progressed into the next round of the cup today after a victory over local rivals the University of Manchester. The game was tied 2-2 after regular time and was settled through penalty flicks.

In terms of other good results, Netball 1s beat Durham 1s in Northern 1A. The game finished 59-33 and sees MMU rise off the bottom of the table and into 5th place. Men’s Table Tennis furthered their winning streak this season with a 11-6 win over Sheffield Hallam 2s in the cup. MMU Golf 3s beat Keele 1s 5-1 in the cup, with football sport scholar Marcus Burgess making his MMU Golf debut. 

Rugby League’s season continues to improve despite defeat. They fell to 22-8 defeat in Premier North after a tightly contested fixture with Northumbria 1s. The game was halted for some time as Northumbria player, Doug Foster, suffered a serious leg injury. Social Media Secretary Jack Carter said, "Nortumbria started well straight from the off taking a 16-0 lead early on, but after a serious leg break from Nortumbria's centre time was stopped. The referee reduced the time the match was to be played and MMU came out strong, winning the second half but narrowly losing 22-8.

"This was a much improved performance from recent weeks, especially against last season's BUCS champions. The result shows drastic improvement that gives us confidence that we can compete at this level and win our remaining fixtures."

Not all of MMU’s teams were able to progress in the cup this week. Men’s Badminton 1s were defeated 5-3 at UCLan. Men's Volleyball lost 3-1 to the University of Manchester in a close affair. 

Unfortunately, the weather played a part in cancelling a fixture this week. Men’s Rugby Union 2s saw their cup game called off against Doncaster College due to snowy conditions.