Open Tour 3 preview

In our pool this weekend we have Burro, Devon and Wessex.Our team is gaining strength again this weekend. Returning is 1 GB Open player and 3 (I think) GB Masters players. We still won't be full strength but it is still good to have more players to develop tactics and plays around.
Saturday games:
vs Burro: Ka-Pow beat Burro at Open Tour 1 with a skeleton crew, missing many players (myself included). Burro then went on to get relegated into the B-Tour. They came 2nd at B-Tour at Open Tour 2, losing in the final to Blue Arse Flies. Burro hasn't seemed as strong this year. I know they have been missing at least 2 players to GB Masters, but we shouldn't be losing this game to start the weekend.

vs Devon: We remain undefeated against Devon this year, having played against them at the Fog Lane cup and Open Tour 1. Devon are pretty unpredictable though and can beat a lot of teams if they really turn it on. If we play our game we should grind a win, but we have to be on form.

vs Wessex: A rematch of the game to break the top 12 at Open Tour 2. In pre-season (at the Thame Warmup tournament) we beat Wessex, but we have a 1 win - 1 loss record against them at Tour this year, beating them at Open Tour 1, but losing to them at Open Tour 2. If all goes to seeding, this will be the battle for the top of the pool, and the easier Top 8 crossover. Wessex have had an interesting season, playing themselves down into a relegation spot at Open Tour 1 (they didn't go down due to a B-Tour to A-Tour promotion team dropping out of Tour 2 (I think)) but played up to the Top 12 at Open Tour 2, beating us along the way. They have a 0 wins - 2 losses record against Devon this season (including the Fog Lane Warmup tournament) so they could slip up there. Either way, Ka-Pow are hungry for playing a better game than the loss at Tour 2. With our strengthened squad and the chance for revenge, I am hoping for a Ka-Pow victory to take top of the pool, 9th seed and secure a 8 v 9 crossover to start Sunday.

Sunday:
If we want to qualify for Europeans we need to looking to win games like our crossover and finishing in the top 8, as close to 5th as possible (5th being our highest possible finish this weekend). The pool we will cross over into looks like this:

1. Chevron
3. Ranelagh
6. DED
8. Cambridge

We would love a shot at knocking DED out of the Top 8 after 4 tough games against them this season. We have a 2 wins - 2 losses record against them, but our 2 wins came in pre-season. In the Tour season we are 0-1 against them, though that was with the skeleton squad on the Saturday of Tour 1.
I would expect Chevron to win the group above with Ranelagh coming second. Not knowing who we will be crossing over against (as long as we finish 1st or 2nd in our pool on Saturday we will have a shot at top 8), we should be expecting to win this to put us in a good place mentally to take a Euros qualification spot at nationals and to get some more practice against the sort of opponents we will need to be besting in order to get there.

After that, it'll be quarters, semis and a final (ideally in the top 8).

I see the Top 8 at the end of the weekend being:
Clapham vs Chevron in the Final (whoever wins take the Tour)
I see Ranelagh making Semis (but not beating Clapham or Chevron), but I can't predict who I see them facing off against in the 3 v 4. For the sake of having a good pedigree I will put Fire 1 in the 3 v 4 against Ranelagh, now that their GB Open, Mixed and Masters players are returning.
That leaves (my prediction of) DED, Ka-Pow, Brighton and Tigers fighting for 5th place.

Looking forward to this weekend! Should be a good one!