Tennis crowned AU Club of the Year

AU members at the prestigious awards. Photo credits to Nik Rahmel

The Athletic Union awards are undoubtedly one of the highlights of the Exeter sporting calendar. Held in the sunshine at the castle, the night celebrated ‘Green Machine’ sporting success and individual achievements over the past year. The evening gave our sporting elite the opportunity to enjoy their accomplishments and appreciate those of others, in true Exeter fashion.

The evening was hosted by the outgoing AU president Joe Batten, who declared that this year saw the largest number of nominations to date, which only reflects the commitment and dedication put into the Clubs and Sports this year.

The prestigious Club of the Year award was won by the Tennis club, who have had a sensationally successful season with both the men’s and women’s 1st teams surpassing all expectations in the BUCS championships.

This was followed by the highly anticipated award for Team of the Year. Nominations for this included the Golf team who made it to the finals of the BUCS Championship for the first time in six years and the Rugby Fresher’s 1st team who have only been defeated twice all season, amongst others. However, the award was won by Women’s Rugby who were crowned BUCS champions earlier this year beating UWIC in the final at Twickenham stadium.

This wasn’t the only award the female rugby team came away with, as Amber Reed picked up the trophy for sportswoman of the year after being named of England’s Key Player of the 6 Nations Series.

The closely contested Sportsman of the Year award was won by Laurie Potter after being placed in the top five student golfers in the UK. He commented “It was an amazing day for the Golf Club with us coming from behind to win BUCS gold for the first time in 7 years and to top it off by winning Sportsman of The Year against so many incredible athletes was the icing on the cake. I think it’s fair to say I’ll remember that day for quite a while!”

Potter saw off tough competition from Tyler ‘Fastest Man on Campus’ Johnson and sports scholar Rob Coote (Rugby).

After winning Sportswoman of the Year last year, Emily Zaborski triumphed again coming away with Sports Personality of the Year for her three years of contribution and commitment to the lacrosse club, which has just achieved a ‘Gold Status’ from the English Lacrosse Association.

Nicky Savill won Volunteer of the Year for the Netball club and said ‘There were so many deserving nominees, it was a real surprise to be chosen. Thank you so much’.

Alex Calver secured Team Captain of the year for Lacrosse: “never thought I’d win it! Couldn’t have done it without the boys of the team though, they’ve made it a great season.”

Dave Rogal won the Bruce Coleman Award for Contribution to Sport: “It is such a good feeling. To know other clubs have voted for you as well makes it even better, and I’m so thankful. There were some great vibes between all the different clubs tonight which made for an incredible atmosphere.”

The Snowsports Club were presented with Most Improved Club after placing on the podium in three nation events this year and the Canoe Club won the Non-BUCS club of the year. Men’s Cricket secured the Media award for gaining a coveted place on the latest Ashes 2013 video game.

Other awards were also won by Martin Giblin (Club Captain of the year – Snowsports), Tim Chilvers (Student Coach of the year – Hockey), Tom Abel (Fresher of the Year – Cricket), Jess Collins (Treasurer of the Year – Rowing).

The night culminated in an excellent fireworks display which was shortly followed by celebrations in Timepiece. Congratulations to all the winners and nominees on their achievements, and we are looking forward to many more years of sporting success as the university climbs up the BUCS rankings.

 Sophy Coombes-Roberts, Arts Editor

EUWRFC progress to BUCS final

Photo credits to EUWRFC

On March 6, it was the semifinal game against Leeds Met, who was the finalist last year after narrowly beating Exeter 19-10 on neutral ground. With regards to the last time the teams competed against each other, Exeter were determined not to have the past repeat itself.

Right from the start, both teams brought forth hard hitting tackles and rucks. Leeds placed a lot of pressure on Exeter in their territory in the first few minute, but the tide soon turned in Exeter’s favour after an excellent scrum from Exeter’s forward pack, stealing the ball from a Leeds’ put in.

Exeter forwards dominated the set pieces and rucks, creating great platforms for the backs to work off. After 17 minutes of hard work, an excellent scrum at the 5m line led to fly half Lucy Demaine crashing through the opposition and putting Exeter on the scoreboard first.

The visitors did not drop their heads, but instead stepped up their game and got a successfully converted try just minutes after. This was followed by a series of handling mistakes from both sides, as the anxiety to put points past the opposition increased. Exeter did not take long to compose themselves, and got the lead back as Clara Nielson crashed through Leeds’ defence a minute before halftime.

HT: EUWRFC 10 – 7 Leeds Met Carnegie 1st

The second half started off similarly to the first, seeing hard hitting scrums, rucks and mauls from both sides. It was obvious, however, that fatigue had caught up with the visitors’ forward pack, as one after another went to ground after each scrum.

Exeter continued their relentless attack from the end of the first half and Prop Sarah Lambson extended the lead with a try in the 58^th minute, successfully converted by Lucy Demaine. Leeds Met fought back hard, but Exeter strengthened their defence and rendered the visitors’ attacking attempts unanswered until the very last play – the second half ended with a converted try by Leeds Met.

FT: EUWRFC 17 – 14 Leeds Met Carnegie 1st

Exeter had worked hard to contain the determined opposition’s waves of attacks and emerged victorious – securing in the place in the BUCS final against Cardiff Met.

Yueli Ang