Round 1 Results and Standings

Round 1 Results

Tutshill Tornados	470*	vs	Wigtown Wanderers	120
Pride Of Portree	2150*	vs	Chudley Cannons	770
Montrose Magpies	290*	vs	Ballycastle Bats	110
Falmouth Falcons	850*	vs	Appleby Arrows	560
Kenmare Kestrels	240	vs	Holyhead Harpies	300*
Caerphilly Catapults	220*	vs	Wimbourne Wasps	430
Puddlemere United			BYE

2012 League Cup Standings

Pos.	Team	P	W	L	T	B	+	-	%	Points
1	Tutshill Tornados	1	1	0	0	0	470	120	79.66	2
2	Pride Of Portree	1	1	0	0	0	2150	770	73.63	2
3	Montrose Magpies	1	1	0	0	0	290	110	72.50	2
4	Wimbourne Wasps	1	1	0	0	0	430	220	66.15	2
5	Falmouth Falcons	1	1	0	0	0	850	560	60.28	2
6	Holyhead Harpies	1	1	0	0	0	300	240	55.56	2
7	Puddlemere United	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	-	2
8	Kenmare Kestrels	1	0	1	0	0	240	300	44.44	0
9	Appleby Arrows	1	0	1	0	0	560	850	39.72	0
10	Caerphilly Catapults	1	0	1	0	0	220	430	33.85	0
11	Ballycastle Bats	1	0	1	0	0	110	290	27.50	0
12	Chudley Cannons	1	0	1	0	0	770	2150	26.37	0
13	Wigtown Wanderers	1	0	1	0	0	120	470	20.34	0

Round 2 Fixtures

Friday March 2

7:30pm: APPLEBY ARROWS vs PRIDE OF PORTREE - Ilkley Moor

Saturday March 3

2:30pm: WIMBOURNE WASPS vs FALMOUTH FALCONS - Bodmin Moor

7:30pm: MONTROSE MAGPIES vs TUTSHILL TORNADOS - Ellis Moor

Sunday March 4

2:30pm: CHUDLEY CANNONS vs PUDDLEMERE UNITED - Ilkley Moor

7:30pm: BALLYCASTLE BATS vs KENMARE KESTRELS - Ellis Moor

Monday March 5

7:30pm: HOLYHEAD HARPIES vs CAERPHILLY CATAPULTS - Exmoor

Wasps dominant despite Seeker concerns

Wimbourne Wasps - 430 vs Caerphilly Catapults - 220*

Line-Ups

	Catapults	Wasps
Keeper	Quigg	Brookstanton (C)
Chasers	Denison	Pippins
	Lympsham	Branstone
	Lafarge	Johnston
Beaters	Lofthouse (C)	Nutt
	Aderonis	Oddpick
Seeker	Bryson	Vogler

The Caerphilly Catapults were not expected to genuinely challenge the Wimbourne Wasps in their opening round encounter. The primary question was just how impressive the League Cup favourites would look. When Bruno Pippins weaved through and around almost every Catapult to open the scoring after 17 seconds, already their favouritism was justified.

But Caerphilly certainly turned up. If Round 1 is any indication, the youthful teams might just have some success, which is fantastic news for the League. The Prides and Kestrels were slick in their opening contests. In many ways the Catapults topped both. Asgeir Lofthouse was predictably stellar and backed up the trio of gallant hard-working Chasers. But the Wasps are just on another level. Apollo Brookstanton’s dexterous keeping kept the Catapults scoreless for nearly half an hour, while Beater Erasmus Oddpick popped up at every second.

Wimbourne’s less spectacular but ultra-efficient Chasers quickly got into a zone, with Delphine Branstone in particular dominating the hapless Catapult Keeper Nigel Quigg. Like the Kestrel-Harpy contest preceding, the match pulled up shorter than expected, ending mid-way through the third hour. But it was more than enough time to get an indication of the Wasps’ peerless pitch presence as they raced out to a 36 goal lead.

The Wasps’ one clear question mark remains that of their 19 year old rookie Chaser Venus Vogler, who was anonymous for the duration of the match. She showed herself to have a keen eye, catching sight of the snitch from nearly a hundred feet away. But Catapult Seeker Brynmor Bryson was clearly the superior mover, easily outstripping and outmanoeuvring Vogler to a comfortable consolation catch, reducing the final Wasp margin to 210 points.

Wimbourne Wasps - 430: Pippins 18, Branstone 17, Johnston 8

Caerphilly Catapults - 220: Lympsham 5, Denison 1, Lafarge 1, Bryson Capture

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: ERASMUS ODDPICK (Wasps)

Stuttering Harpies creep past Kestrels

Holyhead Harpies - 300* vs Kenmare Kestrels - 240

Line-Ups

	Kestrels	Harpies
Keeper	O’Hare (C)	Griffiths
Chasers	McNally	Glossop (C)
	O’Flanagan	Gaenor
	Watkins	Gladstone
Beaters	Tuckett	Samuels
	Crumb	Gibberd
Seeker	Denshaw	Bloch

The Holyhead Harpies of 2011 were an awkward and error-prone unit. This was forefront on the mind of captain Gwenevak Glossop in particular coming into their season opener and consequently, the 2012 model looks little better. The weight of expectation weighs heavy and the Harpies struggled to put their demanding fans’ mandate for improvement behind them. Not helping the equation was the always unpredictable Kenmare Kestrels, whose young Chaser combination displayed a maturity beyond their years.

The Harpies entered the match as a solid favourite yet within the first hour their defence had deteriorated and the Kestrels led 160-60. The second hour was a more even affair, with Gwynedd Gaenor in particular finding her scoring legs and beater Glynis Samuels helping marginalise the Kestrel attack. But even mere parity against the unfancied Kestrels is a worry and you could see the stress on Holyhead faces when McNally scored her 16^th goal to take back out to 90 as two hours ticked over.

But one Harpy who had remained calm and on top of her game was the unflappable Zelda Bloch. When the snitch flittered into view in the distance she pounced before Kestrel Seeker Florentia Denshaw even knew was happening. Bloch plucked the snitch from the air inches above the rudely intrusive hands of reaching Kestrel fans to pull a 300-240 win out of the bag for the fortunate Harpies.

Holyhead Harpies - 300: Gaenor 11, Gladstone, 4, Bloch Capture

Kenmare Kestrels - 240: McNally 16, Watkins 6, O'Flanagan 2

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: DEIRDRE MCNALLY (Falcons)