Edinburgh University swimmers have once again demonstrated that they are a force to be reckoned with as they competed in the BUCS Short Course swimming championships in Ponds Forge, Sheffield in mid November. The team of 19 pulled out a number of fine performances to contribute to Edinburgh's excellent 5th place overall finish, the only four Universities above being the High Performance centres of Stirling, Loughborough, Bath and Swansea.

Women 1sts 29-1 Newcastle

Men 1sts 14-9 Newcastle

The women's 1st team rounded off a successful BUCS qualifying campaign by thrashing Newcastle 29-1 at St Leonard's last night. With a decisive three wins out of three, the 1sts are once again through to the semi finals next February, topping their group.

 1sts 12-7 Durham

The men's 1sts kept their BUCS qualification hopes alive last night as they defeated Durham after losing to Leeds only a few days earlier.

Despite, or perhaps because of the 5-9 defeat down south, Edinburgh rallied and played some of their best polo so far this year to prove that they still had what it takes to make it to BUCS semi finals. 

With the players knowing that losing again would result in elimination and Edinburgh men's worst performance in BUCS for many years, they were on the ball from the very first whistle, under instruction to press Durham hard and make playing as difficult as possible. 

The press worked excellently, with the opposition attacks regularly coming to nothing. Down the other end, Edinburgh scored some brilliant goals through a combination of drives and cross passing, something that the team has been aiming to get working for a long time. The goals were well spead between Edinburgh's players too, with the 12 goals scored coming from 8 different hands. Notably, long-time player and current season top scorer Antonio Malfense Fierro put away his 200th goal for Edinburgh in this match. Harry Sergeant also raised his game further with 4 goals and some quality pit play. 

Perhaps the only criticism of the night was that Edinburgh's concentration lapsed in the last 4 or so minutes resulting in the concession of a volley of goals to leave the scoreline at 12-7. Overall though, the home team had a decisive victory and can take much from this game.

Qualification to BUCS is however still not gaurenteed. The men face Newcastle at St Leonard's next Wednesday, this being their final BUCS qualifier - and another must win game.