Golden goals and extra time were needed to secure Aureus and Balanz Capital’s tickets through to Sunday’s Cartier Queen’s Cup Final. Fourteen chukkas of superb, cut and thrust polo were a brilliant way to decide the semi-finalists.
First up was a fast, flowing game between Aureus and La Dolfina/Marques de Riscal. Mark Tomlinson put Aureus into the lead almost immediately thanks to a penalty 1. Great team-work from all four Aureus players added another in the second before Felix Esain and Poroto Cambiaso levelled the scores. Teodoro Lacau closed the chukka with a shot at goal to keep Aureus ahead. The third was all about La Dolfina/Marques de Riscal. Goals from Simon Prado, Alejandro Aznar and Esain gave them a 7-3 lead going into the half-time break. However, if people thought this was the catalyst for La Dolfina/Marques de Riscal to pull away further they were mistaken. Aureus came out rejuvenated. Goals from Jake Coventry, who was later named Man of the Match, and Tomlinson, closed the gap (7-5). Two successful 30-yard penalty conversions off the stick of Lacau, to only one goal in reply from Cambiaso, meant the score was reading 8-7 in favour of La Dolfina/Marques de Riscal going into the sixth. The packed grandstands were on tenterhooks – was this game going into extra time? Goals from Lacau and Cambiaso maintained the status quo, as did two 30-yard penalty strikes from Lacau and Prado. It was left to Diego Cavanagh, who had delivered a strong game across all six chukkas for Aureus, to find the equaliser with just over a minute of this semi-final remaining. A sudden-death seventh chukka would be needed to separate these two great teams. With just over a minute of the seventh chukka played, Aureus’s number one, Coventry, calmly fired through the winner. Jackson Packer, Kerry Packer’s grandson, and Agathe Delpont, the Managing Director of Cartier UK & Ireland, presented the Kerry Packer Trophy to Priya Sachdev Kapur, whose late husband, Sunjay Kapur, had founded the team. Dolfina Figaza, who had been played by Cambiaso, received the Cartier Best Playing Pony prize.
Image credit: Art of Polo
The Teams:
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Second Match
The second semi-final, for the Hubert Perrodo Trophy, was equally thrilling. Balanz Capital won this game but were pushed by Dubai Polo Team into a seventh chukka. The latter squad had managed to maintain a narrow lead at half-time (6-5). Thanks to a hat-trick of goals from Barto Castagnola and a goal from Tariq Albwardy in the fourth, with only Ned Hine scoring for Balanz Capital, Dubai headed into the fifth with a more established lead (10-6). That said, Balanz Capital never allowed Dubai to relax and some great team-work from Claudio Porcel’s team kept them in contention. Jeta Castagnola highlighted this in the fifth by firing through two goals to close the gap to just two. So, with all to play for both teams battled hard in a bid to gain supremacy. Unfortunately for Dubai, who were hoping to make Sunday’s final and stay on target to win their seventh Queen’s Cup tournament, it was Balanz Capital that proved more successful. Goals from Hine and Lorenzo Chavanne, to only one in reply from Barto, ensured that extra time was going to be needed to separate these competitive, relentlessly focused teams. With about a minute played of the seventh chukka Balanz Capital were awarded a 30-yard penalty. Chavanne maintained his status as tournament top scorer and fired through his 42nd goal of the competition to give Balanz Capital their first ticket through to Sunday’s Cartier Queen’s Cup Final. Porcel received the Hubert Perrodo Trophy from Hubert’s daughter Nathalie Perrodo Samani and Agathe Delpont, Managing Director Cartier UK & Ireland. Hine was named the Most Valuable Player while Jeta’s five-year-old YesNo, whom he had played in the first, second and fifth chukkas, received the Cartier Best Playing Pony prize.
Image credit: Art of Polo
The Teams:
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Stats provided by https://poloreport.com/