Power Rankings | BUCS 2018/19 Week Six: Division One
The BUCS season is upon us, and so our Power Rankings return along with your opportunity to have your say on how things stack up across the three tiers of the University game!
We’re collating this year’s rankings via the highly successful format used this past summer - polling not only our own team of BUCS correspondents but also giving all of our passionate Patreon supporters the opportunity to determine how these rankings stack up!
Each contributor submitted their own picks of who’s top dogs in each tier, and then we tallied it all up to create these amalgamated rankings!
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Head to https://www.patreon.com/dblcoverage to learn more.
Cut:
Coventry Jets - A second loss on the year for the Jets, and this their most convincing as Coventry simply couldn’t get going against a Loughborough outfit they had bested just a couple weeks previously.
They’re still on track for postseason football if they can play to form, as they have a ‘softer’ second half to their season, and their split series with Lugbug putting them in good stead.
Honourable Mentions:
After being cut from the rankings a couple of weeks ago, the UEA Pirates came close to making a return to the top ten this week courtesy of cruising to victory over the Canterbury Chargers. The victory allows them to go into Christmas on a high, but they’ll need to add some new wrinkles to their game by the new year if they wish to catch up with the high-flying Falcons.
Coming close to a Power Rankings debut, the Newcastle Raiders will go into midseason undefeated - though frustratingly for them, having only played a pair of fixtures. Still, they impressed with a comfortable victory over the Sharks, and could yet shake things up in the 1A North if they continue to find success in their stacked slate of games in the new year - odds are six-straight weeks of football beckon for the raiders!
10. Edinburgh Napier Knights ( Down Three )
Just as the Knights appear to be the Sharks’ kryptonite, so too do the Northumbria Mustangs simply seem to have Napier’s number in the 1A North.
In a second-straight defensive duel between these two teams, the Mustangs once again emerged with a 6-9 victory, dropping the Knights to a disappointing 2-2 record and just barely clinging onto a Power Rankings spot courtesy of their two shutout wins over the Sharks.
The Knights are currently scheduled to return in Week Nine with back-to-back games against the Tigers, but it’s notable they also need to find somewhere to squeeze in a missed fixture against the Raiders, too.
9. Bath Killer Bees ( Down Three )
After earning their way back into the rankings last week at a lofty #6, the buzz around the Bees seems to have calmed down and the 2-1 Bath outfit slides to ninth.
They’re one of just four teams with fixtures still to play out in 2018, as they nominally travel to the Exeter Demons this Sunday, though our understanding is that due to the Demons’ pitch conditions, the Bees themselves will host this South West showdown.
A loss would likely cost the Bees their rankings spot in the new year.
8. Southampton Stags ( Down Four )
With their Week Six game against the Stags postponed due to pitch issues, it seems the Stags simply slipped off out pollsters’ radars this week, sliding all the way down to eighth!
As with the rest of their conference, a busy second half of the season beckons, kicked off by hosting the Bees in Week Eight.
7. Sheffield Sabres ( Re-entry )
Absent since our preseason rankings courtesy of their Week One loss to Hallam, the Sabres finally convince our power rankings pollsters that they’re real contenders courtesy of a fifty burger thrashing of the Tyrants!
They hit the break hot with four wins on the trot, setting up a juicy-looking #SteelBowl clash with the Warriors in Week Nine!
6. NTU Renegades ( Up Three )
Their hefty loss to Loughborough fading from people’s memories, the NTU Renegades reclimb a few spots up the rankings.
They put up their biggest offensive output of the season against the Longhorns last Sunday, but suspect also conceded more than they’d like.
There’s only a game between the top three teams in the 1A Midlands at the moment, so if the Renegades can come out of the break fast with a win over Coventry in Week Nine, the conference crown is still well within reach.
5. Brunel Burners ( = )
No action in Week Six sees the Burners stay put in the #5 spot, though they’ll get a chance to climb higher in our midseason rankings when they host the Reading Knights on Sunday.
We were hoping these two teams would come into the game each with perfect records, but the Knights slipped up against the Stingers in Week Six, and so now the Burners are surely hot favourites for the 1A South title?
4. Northumbria Mustangs ( Up Four )
Big climbers this week are the Northumbria Mustangs who climb four spots off the back of their second victory over the Knights.
They’ve proven their resilience, and head into Christmas brimming with confidence thanks to their four-game win streak that places them alone at the top of the 1A North.
They’ll return in the new year to take on local rivals, Newcastle, in Weeks Nine and Eleven - a couple of clashes that could really shake things up in the North.
3. Loughborough Students ( = )
They reclimbed the ranks courtesy of their nice win over NTU, and cemented themselves as contenders with a comfortable victory over Coventry!
With more than half their season complete, a nice long break beckons, with Loughborough not returning to action until Week Ten against the Wolves.
Fans of the game, however, will be particularly looking out for their season finale, a potential crown-deciding showdown against the NTU Renegades in Week Twelve!
2. Sheffield Hallam Warriors ( = )
Hallam came close to poaching the top spot in the rankings this week, missing out by the smallest of margins likely due to the modest size of their win over the Rams.
It made for a great Game of the Week though, and in truth it’s good to see the Warriors looking every bit the contender we’ve come to expect them to be!
The new year sees a stacked slate of four straight fixtures, kicking off with a trip to local rivals, the Sabres, in Week Nine.
1. Kent Falcons ( = )
And though it was a fair way off their 78-0 Week One walloping, the Kent Falcons’ comfortable 8-46 victory over the Immortals allows them to fly into the break undefeated and top of the middle tier rankings!
Back-to-back fixtures versus new boys, QMBL, beckon out of the break, as the Falcons face four-straight fixtures to keep their undefeated conference-title run alive!
