Nick Wright previews this weekend's clash between York City Knights and Hull FC
Alex Reid looks at whether the once ever-present appearance of English clubs in the later stages of the Champions League is set to become a thing of the past
Craig Dobson looks at QPR's decision to sack Neil Warnock and replace him with Mark Hughes
James Tompkinson reviews an excellent pre-season victory for the York City Knights against Yorkshire rivals Leeds Rhinos
University of Durham Men's 2nds 113 - 134 University of York Men's 1sts.
After narrowly beating Durham in the league last term, the York team arrived in Durham confident of winning their quarterfinal of the cup. However, they were not complacent, which was reflected by the score line at the end of the match.
After some initial haggling over the order in which the weapons would be fenced, the match kicked off at 4pm with foil. Tom Skingle fenced a good first bout giving York an early lead, which was extended further by the captain Harry Whitwell, to the delight of York, as Foil was reputably Durham’s best event. The York team managed to hold onto the lead despite the Durham fencers putting up a good fight. The fight was not without controversy however, as certain Durham fencers were accused of covering their target area with their non-sword arm. This aside, the foil ended 45-38 to York, Whitwell putting in a good performance to take York up to 45 and win, personally achieving a plus 10 indicator in the foil.
Sabre was the next weapon to be fenced. Pavel Guzanov made up for a shaky start from Thomas Jones, steamrollering his opponent in the second bout to give York a strong starting lead. Durham however decreased York’s lead by fighting back against Harry Whitwell. However Durham’s hopes of a revival were broken after Jones beat his next opponent 5-0 with some very aggressive fencing. Guzanov continued by making short work of his next opponent, clearly enjoying himself, followed by a solid performance by Whitwell. After this, Durham was constantly on the back foot. All three sabreurs finished off their last opponents efficiently to win the sabre convincingly 45-25.
Going into the last event, the epee, York only needed to score 21 points to win the match. Durham, recovering their form, surged ahead at the start and was leading York 20-12. To York’s delight, Phillip Sellars put in an amazing performance against his second opponent and managed to score 9 points. This drastically reduced Durham’s lead and secured York’s win. With the match already won, York was not prepared to let the epee slip. Another good performance by Phillip Sellars took the score to almost level with Durham and some good fencing from Whitwell pushed York ahead to 40-39 as they went into the last match. However a good performance by the Durham anchor unfortunately denied Mike Denniss in a close last match, which came down to the last point. Durham won a consolation prize of the epee by one point.
Both teams fenced well but York always had the upper hand on and off the piste - even though the York team was away they always made more noise than their Durham counterparts. As the York captain Whitwell said on the day, “we strolled up and trashed them”. York is now in the semi final of the cup, which will be against Newcastle 2nds.
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