The culmination of the group stage saw final day drama, as the race for qualification went to the wire. In Groups A and C we already knew who would be progressing as group winners. In Group A Phil applied the finishing touch to an exemplary group campaign with a resounding 12-7 win over myself to qualify with a perfect record. In Group C Ben took his foot off the gas with qualification already in the bag, slipping to an 8-4 defeat to Theo W. Group B had drama galore, as Nick defeated SJ by the odd point in 17 to overtake him into top spot and qualify as Group B winner. SJ then had an anxious wait next to a Vidiprinter (I assume) to see if his finishing qualification record was sufficient to go through as best runner-up; as news of MD's crushing victory over myself landed, it became clear that SJ would progress in any case by virtue of a superior points difference (as both SJ and myself finished with 6 points apiece).
So the semi-final line up consists of two-time runner-up, in 2012 and 2013 (Phil), the sole two-time winner of the tournament, in 2014 and 2017 (Nick), 2015 winner (Ben) and 2016 winner (SJ) - a star-studded line-up I'm sure you'll agree. Here's the draw:
SF1: SJ v Ben
SF2: Phil v Nick
First legs will take place during the weekend of 2/3 March, with the 2nd legs on 6/7 April.
Take it easy,
Danny
Group A: Danny 7 v 12 Phil
Group B: Nick 9 v 8 SJ
Group C: Ben 4 v 8 Theo W
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