The University of West England Bullets are set to face the Durham Saints in a faceoff for the British university National Championship as the Bullets seek their third straight and the Saints look to pick up another major upset.
The star-studded UWE Bullets yet again find themselves undefeated as they enter the season finale, with an 8-0 regular-season record.
Offensive coordinator Frankie Pankhurst credited the Bullets’ dominance to one man in particular:
It all starts at the top. HC Dan Maher is one of the most genuine, honest people you will meet, a true “players coach”. Every year he’s striving to improve on the past year and does a great job helping players get to the next level. That coupled with the great support we have from University allows us to be a true performance program and push to be the best versions of ourselves each year. Coach Ti has done a great job with the Defence and is one of the best young coaches in Britball, to not concede a single point in 10 games is special. The whole coaching staff, support staff, physio team, S&C team, nutritionist and media team have all been amazing in putting the squad in a position to be successful.
Entering the playoffs, the Jadrian Clark (Rhein Fire) led offense averaged 69.3 points per game. The 50-0 semi-final win over Leeds Beckett saw Clark throw five touchdowns, with AJ Mealing hauling in two of them on top of 112 receiving yards. Running back KK Brooks (University of Pennsylvania) has yet again been a crucial part of the UWE offensive unit, even picking up a passing touchdown in the closing minutes of the last game.
Where UWE have gone into every game as clear favorites, the Durham Saints’ postseason could not be any different; their first playoff game saw them overcome SGS PRiDE by a score of 27-6, setting up a third matchup with Nottingham Gold.
Pankhurst spoke on Durham’s recent success:
Durham have done a great job and I’ve got a lot of time for a lot of people up there. I had the pleasure of coaching a couple of their players at GB U19s last year, and know they will come to play. They have nothing to lose and all the pressure is on UWE. We’ve got to go out and win this one!
UoN previously handed Durham two regular season losses, but the Saints were able to upset the Northern champions as they travelled to Nottingham and left with a 21-10 victory to advance to the final.
Durham’s offense in recent games was all about the electric receiver corps from fourth year captain Matt Wilson to Terrell Brown. Brown picked up an impressive 151 yards and a touchdown on his four catches against Nottingham, while Wilson racked up six receptions for 78 yards and two scores from quarterback Mike Ruisch.
On the defensive side of the ball, the likes of Will Heath, who led the team in sacks over the regular season, as well as others in the front-seven, stand out as difference-makers. Nottingham’s passing game fell victim to Luca Di Leo, Angus Macmillan and Haydn Jackson who all picked up sacks on the day, as well as the two latter along with Kyle Barnes also forcing critical turnovers.
