A night of contrasts delivered us two finalists for the 2008 Autumnal League. On Field One, White and Blue played out an epic, enthralling contest that was worthy of the competitiveness that has defined this season. Meanwhile, on Field Two, Black Rain dished out the kind of shellacking that Muhammad Ali would have been proud of. Given that a spot in the Championship Final was up for grabs in both games, the difference was all the more remarkable.

Blue and White delivered everything that was to be expected of a Semi-Final. The atmosphere was intense, points were hard to come by, and pressure-driven turnovers were mixed with amazing defensive efforts and offensive layouts. Very little separated the teams all night, and the Blue Smurfs final victory score of 9 points to 8 is evidence of that. White may not have made the final - but they sure did give 100% trying.

Now, if only Red(iculous) could say the same about the effort they dished up on Field Two. Blanked by Black Rain in the first half, they looked in danger of losing 13 points to 1 before 2 points in junk time delivered a "slightly-less-embarrassing" 13-3 final score line. To be fair to Black, they played pretty well and their players - particular their newbies - held on to some catches they could easily have been forgiven for dropping. It's hard to say how good a warm-up this was for the final, but full credit to Grant for taking a large group - with a lot of new players - and turning it into a solid outfit who will go into the championship game full of confidence they can win.

Which brings us to Wednesday. The big news obviously is that the Blue Smurfs will be missing Sandy, who is, shall we say, a player of reasonable skill. How they get by without him will be a testament to how well Kristin can allocate the resources at her disposal ... but one player does not a team make, and the Blue Smurfs still have a fair amount of talent (Michelle, Stephan, Kevin, Wilky, Neil et al) to work with. On an interesting side note - this is Kristin’s third straight league final, so she’s certainly got the experience required to keep a cool head in a pressure situation.

Grant’s Black (Rain) have been the surprise packet of this league, coming into form at just the right time after spending the early part of the season at the bottom of the ladder. With Doug, Alex (and others) on the team, they’ve also just got the right amount of “mongrel” to win the mental games that are part and parcel of any final. People like Stuey Meldrum add a touch of class, and they’ve got some amazing young-guns in Vicky, Jesse and Olin.

You can bet Wednesday nights Final will be awesome – and we hope you can stay and share a beer or two after the game, which will be provided courtesy of the HKUPA. It should definitely be an entertaining match that goes down to the wire. In terms of a prediction – the absence of Sandy deprives Blue of their most frequently used pathway to score, and I’m just not sure they’ll be able to get it into the end zone enough times to be crowned champions. Black Rain by 2-3 points.

What say you? Predict a winner, cheer your team or just give us your best smack talk!

FINAL MINOR ROUND TABLES, HKUPA 2008 AUTUMNAL LEAGUE