University Men’s Outdoor Nationals 2025: Scottish Predictions
By Kabir ‘Kb’ Adkoli
The indoor season is thankfully long over (I’m definitely not salty Flung didn’t qualify for open or mixed indoor nationals) and the pinnacle of university ultimate in the open division is upon us. Over the academic year, 9 teams across 7 universities were registered to play in the Scottish region. With 5 other regions across the country, the top 3 teams from each region qualified to the promised land of division 1 nationals, accompanied by the best 4th place finishing team across all regions (subtle foreshadowing?). Unfortunately, Dundee had to forfeit their games and Heriot-Watt will not be sending a team to UMON. However, here’s how all the teams competing this weekend fared through the year, plus my predictions to end.
Division 1
St Andrews 1: 1st in the region, seeded 4th
Pretty much the powerhouse of Scottish ultimate, Saints are coming off a strong indoor nationals campaign where their first team narrowly missed out on a division 1 bronze medal finishing 4th, while their second team showcased Saints’ squad depth by qualifying for division 2 open outdoor nationals. The squad brings in a mix of faces well known within the world of Scottish university ultimate as well as emerging stars who have developed immensely following promotion to the first team. The dominance from the team from East Fife (E-A-S-T F-I-F-E being the most intimidating chant in Scottish Ultimate?) was clinical in each one of their games as they swept the division, going undefeated and breaking the 100-goal barrier, helped along by two bagels. It will be interesting to see how they navigate a pool that includes current open indoor division 1 champions, Bath, plus Loughborough and UCL.
Glasgow 1: 2nd in the region, seeded 5th
I bet a lot of people whose only source of information about the Scottish university ultimate scene is ‘The Release Point’ must be shocked at how a team that failed to qualify for open and mixed indoor nationals wound up being the second best team in the division outdoors, but, here we are. With two universe point wins against Stirling and Strathclyde, the team seems to thrive in high-pressure situations. The team are in a pool with Durham, Nottingham and King’s College London. With several tall players on the roster, the team will hopefully cope with any discs popping up in the ever-present Nottingham wind this weekend.
Edinburgh 1: 3rd in the region, seeded 14th
On paper, many would have expected Edinburgh to have finished higher up on the table despite them not having lived up to my predictions through the indoor season. One could argue that they were missing a couple of key players against Glasgow which was what left them fighting for 3rd in the region. This is further evidenced by their performance against St Andrews, who they pushed all the way to 15-12, the narrowest victory margin for the invincible Scottish team. With a full squad headed down to Nottingham, they can wreak havoc, starting with the pool containing Southampton, Sussex and last year’s outdoor champions, Leeds.
Strathclyde 1: 4th in the region, seeded 16th
I can’t help but label the Dark Horses’ division 1 qualification a bit lucky, as they were the last team in the country to book their spot at the tournament, thanks to the virtue of being the best 4th place team. Like their Glaswegian counterparts, Strathclyde love taking a game to universe, but unfortunately the similarities end there as they were on the losing side against both Glasgow and Edinburgh. However, the team has demonstrated an ability to perform when the lights shine bright as they beat Stirling 15-7 in the game that decided who went to division 1. They sit in pool A with last year’s runners up Sheffield and two newcomers to the division, Warwick and Bristol.
Kb’s Predictions
Saints are by far the best team in Scotland and for that I’m going to have to rate them quite highly. The depth of their club is a great omen for outdoor ultimate and for that reason I have them finishing 3rd. Despite Edinburgh finishing 3rd in the region, I’m going to put them above Glasgow in my predictions as they are finally coming together with a full squad and Glasgow have lost a couple of key players. In the words of Shannon Sharpe, “You can have Harden, you can get a pardon, you can have a garden, Edi at 5”. As my indoor regionals predictions have confirmed, it is near impossible to rate your own team fairly so I have to try and learn from my predictions by bringing Flung down a few notches from where I want them. For this, I have them in 9th. That leaves the final division 1 Scottish team, Strathclyde. The precedent Strathclyde set last year shows that whilst they succeeded at division 2 level indoors, they didn’t perform so well outdoors. While this year’s team is arguably better than last, I still think they’ll be bottom of the Scottish division 1 pile, placing 11th.
Division 2
Stirling 1: 5th in the region, seeded 5th
The best of Scotland in division 2, Stirling had a rollercoaster of a time through the BUCS game weeks. The smaller squad size seemed to hurt them in terms of having fresh legs, but their elite fitness levels certainly mitigated the downsides of not having numbers. Apart from a closely fought universe point loss to Glasgow, Stirling picked up wins against Heriot-Watt, Saints 2 and Edi 2. They find themselves in a pool that includes Loughborough 2, Imperial and York which will lead to interesting matchups, as Stirling will be familiar with the former two teams following division 1 indoor nationals.
Saints 2: 6th in the region, seeded 9th
Mirroring the indoor season, Saints had the best second team in the division. Their wins of the season came against Edinburgh 2 and Heriot-Watt, but they looked fundamentally solid in other games as well. A concern with their team is that they did crossover a couple of players from their first team as allowed by BUCS regulations. On the final matchday where Saints 1 were simultaneously playing and there were no crossovers, the team struggled against Strathclyde and Stirling, a theme I fear might reoccur in Nottingham. Their pool includes Exeter, Surrey and Newcastle.
Edinburgh 2: 7th in the region, seeded 13th
The final Scottish team headed down to Nottingham for the weekend, Edinburgh 2 only managed to grab a win against Heriot-Watt throughout the BUCS season. The same concerns I had with Saints 2 mirror over to Edinburgh as well, but there’s the added caveat of their only win occuring in Oriam, where the effects of wind do not influence play. In the blustery conditions of Nottingham, this team may struggle to get their offence going, beginning with their pool games on Saturday against Liverpool, UWE and Warwick 2.
Kb’s Predictions
I imagine Stirling will fancy themselves in this division as they’ve already demonstrated they have the ability to go toe-to-toe with a couple of the division 1 teams. I can’t ignore the fact that legs might be a concern for them however, which is why I won’t back them to go all the way, but think they can get 4th. As I’ve stated earlier, the two Scottish second teams might find it tough to cope with the winds, especially against a lot of the other first teams in the division. While they might have huge sidelines from their first teams, I still don’t see either of them doing particularly well. I think Saints 2 will come in 12th while Edinburgh 2 will unfortunately place 15th.
For the official BUCS result graphic click here and to follow all the action click here. As always, good luck to all teams competing this weekend!