Cartier win 29th St Moritz Polo World Cup on Snow

Both sides had a quiet first chukka, with Cartier scoring the only goal of the chukka – a penalty conversion by Hyde. However, come the second chukka, the game really started to hot up. Following another penalty conversion, Hyde received a brilliant hit up field by teammate Max Charlton and with controlled precision Hyde put the ball between the posts. Nacho Gonzalez then followed this up with the team’s fourth goal. Finally, Lucas Labat managed to get a goal on the scoreboard for BMW, converting a difficult 40-yard penalty. But Hyde, who was on outstanding from, and 22-year-old Charlton came flying into action to secure another goal before half time.

To the spectators in the packed stands, it looked as though it was already all over for BMW. Although BMW had beaten Cartier just 24 hours earlier, Cartier had clearly changed their tactics for the final. BMW’s three Argentine pros – Bautista Ortiz de Urbina, Lucas Labat and Ignacio Tillous – were still as strong as the day before but it was Cartier’s defence that shut them down and denied them vital opportunities at goal.

However, after some exchanged words at half time, BMW came back out with some renewed energy and better play. Labat and Tillous made a perfect play and, getting past Gonzalez, Tillous put the ball between the posts. BMW patron Andreas Knapp Voith could have had his moment of glory after having possession of the ball right in front of goal, but he fluffed it and the ball went out of play. All was not lost though as Urbina slotted the ball through the posts before the end of the third chukka.

With Urbina then scoring again at the start of the final chukka, it was starting to look dangerous for Cartier. They had let their foot off the gas in the third chukka and needed to work hard to prevent BMW from scoring the equaliser. And they did just that, with neither BMW or Cartier managing to score again, Cartier could let out a sigh of relief – and celebrate their win.

“The final was unbelievable,” Cartier’s Nacho Gonzalez said. “We got away in the first two chukkas but I just knew they were going to come back and they did. But we got there in the end. We changed our tactics after losing yesterday – Max and Chris put more pressure on them when they were hitting in and I started running back more and picking up the runners. We played a great game.”

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