Bath surprise Durham to take spot in semi-finals
THE semi-finalists for the BUCS Championship have been decided, with Exeter, Loughborough, Hartpury, and most surprisingly Bath, all booking spots for next week.
Reigning champions and league winners Exeter secured an expected passage with a 55-29 win against Nottingham. It was an achievement itself for Nottingham to be in the fixture at all given that they were scrambling for survival for a majority of the season, before three wins in the run-in catapulted them into the eighth and final play-off spot, but in the record-breaking Exeter, it was one miracle too many. The two were separated by 54 points in the league table, with Exeter finishing on an all-time BSR record tally of 80.
Centre Charlie McCaig – who made his debut for Exeter Chiefs this year – scored 25 points as well as tries from Lucas Dorrell, Louie Gulley, Jack Forsythe, Jake Murray, Josh MacAndrew, and Chris Freeman overcame a gallant Nottingham, who crossed the line five times.
Exeter will face Bath in the last four. The latter are the unexpected inclusion of the semi-final lineup, with their 33-23 win against Durham mak- ing them the only side to win away in the quarters. Durham had gone into the final game of the season in second place and needing a bonus point win against bottom-placed Swansea to stay there regardless of other results but gifted the Welsh side just their third win of the season.
It seems likely that this shock loss contributed to another as Bath overcame a half-time deficit of 18-12, as well as two defeats to Durham in the league, to earn a shot at the final at the StoneX on April 17.
The other semi-final will be between Loughborough and Hartpury, who finished second and third respectively in the league. Loughborough capitalised on Hartpury's poor run-in – second place was all but theirs until the final three weeks – and Durham's loss to Swansea to secure second and beat Leeds Beckett 37-12 in the quarter-final.
Hartpury thumped Cardiff Met 51-22 to set up the match against Loughborough. The complexion of the fixture is strange given Hartpury's undoubtable prowess, but Loughborough stunned them with a 27-0 shutout as recently as Round 16.
Outside of the quarterfinals, there was a significant result in the BUCS Premier divisions as Newcastle beat Brunel 39-24 away to secure a shot at BSR qualification in two weeks' time against Swansea. Newcastle have fallen painfully short of BUCS qualification for five years now, losing to Swansea in 2019 in this play-off before two Covid affected seasons.
Swansea's bottomplaced finish condemned them to this fixture despite that shock victory against Durham in the final round – the momentum gathered will be vital for such a cutthroat fixture.
