La Indiana 14 - 11
RH Polo 14 – 12 El Remanso
La Indiana and RH Polo have won through to Sunday’s
Cartier Queen’s Cup Final after producing some fantastic, 22-goal
polo. The packed grandstands at Guards Polo Club were treated to two
superb matches which highlighted the very best of the high-goal.
La Indiana, who were
finalists in 2016, did not have an easy path to victory today, thanks to
a great partnership from Murus Sanctus’s Hilario Ulloa and Facundo
Sola. Ulloa was the first one to score and found a couple before La
Indiana got started. Most Valuable Player Augustin Merlos made up for it
before the end of the first chukka, putting through a field goal and
penalty to level up the scores 2-2. This was pretty much a template for
the early stages of the match, with the scores levelling 6-6 at the
half-way stage.
La
Indiana turned on the pressure in the fourth, with some impressive
aerial play from Merlos and Nic Roldan. The tension became evident
through Murus Sanctus giving away too many penalties. Michael Bickford’s
boys took these with interest, piling through the goals to make it 13-9
at the end of the fourth. At last some daylight in the scores and La
Indian took advantage. The downside was a much more stop/start affair
with the umpires being kept busy. The sixth was very tense and Murus
Sanctus struggled to find their earlier spark, while Merlos defied
nerves to produce a fabulously angled safety 60 to take his team’s tally
to 14. Ulloa closed the match as he had started it, with a goal, but it
was too late to stop La Indiana winning this match and the Hubert
Perrodo Trophy. Carrie Perrodo and Laurent Feniou, Managing Director of
Cartier UK, also presented Merlos with the Best Playing Pony prize for
Delta, who is owned by Bickford but played by Merlos in the
game-changing fourth chukka.
Adolfo Cambiaso, who is chasing a record 10th
Cartier Queen’s Cup victory, remains on target after RH Polo defeated
El Remanso (rec 1 goal) 14-12 in the second semi-final of the day.
However RH Polo, who had been impressive in the early stages of the
tournament and headed up their league, did not have everything their own
way as Charlie Hanbury’s El Remanso team fought for possession in every
moment of this match. This quartet of four English players came to this
semi-final after knocking out King Power Foxes in a great display of
four-man polo last Saturday and looked as if they could be giant killers
again. Hanbury was impressive in the line ups, invariably winning them
for his team. This was followed up by some great team-work between James
Harper, James Beim and Ollie Cudmore, ensuring El Remanso were always
very much in this game. In a similar format to the earlier match,
tensions surfaced in the third, with Cambiaso successfully converting
three penalties and firing through a field goal to give Ben Soleimani’s
team an 8-4 lead at half-time.
El
Remanso turned the tables in the fourth, with Harper sending up some
perfect shots to his team-mates to level the score 9-9 just before the
end of the fourth. The fifth was equally tough, but will be remembered
for Cambiaso’s sportsmanship. Beim had a fall but was back on his feet
unhurt, but minus his pony and the play continuing further down the
field. Cambiaso remained with Beim, so that the match, for a short
period, remained balanced, three on three. Harper shot through a goal at
this time to level the scores again, only for Cambiaso to then fire
through a penalty to give RH Polo the edge going into the sixth (12-11).
With both Cambiaso and Beim scoring in this chukka, extra time seemed
possible, but when Tommy Beresford successfully converted a 30-yard
penalty, RH Polo’s place in Sunday’s final was assured.
Adolfo Cambiaso was named Most Valuable Player while Ollie Cudmore’s Rosita, whom he had played in the fourthh chukka, was named Cartier Best Playing Pony.
Next matches – Thursday 15 June - Cartier Queen’s Cup Subsidiary Semi-Finals
3pm Sommelier v Talandracas at Manor Farm
3pm Monterosso Polo Team v King Power Foxes at Coworth Park
