Time for a rematch of the WUGC 2016 quarterfinal!
July 5, 2019 by Peter Jesse in Preview with 0 comments
Russia – France
The Russia vs. France showdown had potential to become a tight affair. Due to an amazing performance by the whole French unit Russia’s superstar players could not pull the wagon to make the game close as France took the game 15-5.
From the start, France forced turnovers by a Russian site who was trying to put it deep very often downwind. Elise Becker played Defense against Sasha Pustovaya and put on a clinic in active marking compensating for the height disadvantage. Very few Russian players were capable of throwing into the strong wind. On the other hand the French players all seemed comfortable into the wind. Ronan Bichon took the big shots up wind for the French team. He also took the Toly Vasiliev matchup when the Russian star switched over to the O-line.
Russia’s offense could keep up in the beginning of the game but their defense struggled to get turns. Russia tried to put on a zone but Renaud Moirier destroyed it with very fast short passes, going for every other, to make it 6-4. France’s O-line only turned it over once during the first half.
In the first point of the second half Russia managed to force turns but could not convert. After ten turns between both teams France managed a hold to make it 9-5. This letdown broke the Russian team’s neck. France never looked back and took total control to win in convincing fashion by scoring 9 points in a row from 6-5 to 15-5.
Coach Olivier Labbé was proud that his team kept cool when the Russian defense was pressuring them early and told me that they worked a lot on their throwing technique which paid off in a huge way in windy Györ. Regarding the final he said France is very aware of their own strength. They are calm, controlled and work like a machine. He compared the team to a train and France wants the gold medal to be the last stop for this train at EUC.
Great Britain – Germany
On the turf field, nicknamed by the live stream commentators “Mordor” because of the hot surface and the most severe wind condition at EUC, Germany could not hang with Britain in a very windy affair. Both teams turned it over a lot but GB was more confident to play their normal style of game and trust that people can complete passes to win 15-6 in the end.
According to German coach Heiko Walldorf in the beginning GB came up with some lucky catches and could pull away. After that the German team lacked the confidence to come back in these conditions.
After the game, GB player Tom Martin-Hall said the wind was a big factor in the semi final. Looking forward at tomorrow’s final he told me the GB mixed squad has some unfinished business from worlds in London where France eliminated GB mixed with a score of 15-8 in the quarterfinal.
Third place game Russia – Germany
In a very close game Russia took half at 8-7. Russia did a better job of getting the disc to Dina Dumanskaia in the endzone but in the second half Germany pulled away by three points. Russia pulled off a comeback where they relied on their whole roster to get to universe where they received the disc and managed a hold to take the bronze medal.
