British Polo Day Thailand Match Reports
The Siam Cup: Oxford v Thai Polo Club 2: 4 – 5
This was an intense and well matched affair played at +2 level. Despite a downpour and flooding the previous afternoon Santiago Bachmann somehow managed to massage the grounds into good order. Oxford in the dark blue had never played together before as a team, the graduates having all left Oxford over a 10 year period. They were ably led at No 4 by James Dundas +2 who marshaled Jacqueline Hooper and Stuart Wrigley (both 0) at 3 and 2, with Caroline Link at 1 standing in at the last minute for HRH Prince Amir of Pahang. The Thai Polo Club knew each other well with several players sharing positions. Fabian Bolanteiro at +3 was the play-maker supreme who guided his No 3 Gary Tiernan 0 well. At No 2 William Zhao shared with Goncalo Cabral, both -1. At No 1 Anna Princess zu Oettingen-Wallerstein shared with the youngest player of the afternoon at 15 Everest Munro, both were -1.
The pitch was heavy and both teams played sensibly sizing each other up. James Dundas found his range in the first period and put the ball well up for Caroline link to score. This was the theme for the first 2 periods as Oxford had some fine runs and managed to find the flags to put them 3-1 at the break. But as so often happens in the 3rd chukka Thai Polo began to counter attack with some fine plays by Bolanteiro who, christened the magician by commentator Colonel Simon Ledger, had some fine runs on the heavy and by now cut up turf. 3 apiece going into the 4th with some heavy pressure by Jacqui Hooper saw Oxford go a goal ahead but, with Tiernan increasingly effective with Bolanteiro behind him, Thai PC drew level. In the final minutes Thai Polo Club started to camp in the Oxford half and man of the match Gary Tiernan scored the winner after picking up a long pass from Bolanteiro. Both teams played some excellent polo in a fine spirit and so the Siam Cup went to the home team in a thrilling first match.
The Ettinger Trophy: The British Army v Thai Polo Club 1: 7 – 6 1/2
The Ettinger Trophy was next on the agenda but some work was needed to be done to get the divots stamped to repair the surface. The crowd duly stamped and did their stuff and most of the damage was repaired. The Thai polo Club number one team at 8 goal had Harold Link (0), the host, at 4 with Andrew Hine (5) over from the UK. At 2 the gifted Manuel Cereceda (3) linked well with Claudia Zeisberger and Prince Carl-Eugen zu Oettingen-Wallerstein who shared the number 1 slot. Their opposition was the British Army all duly shirted in red. A 9 goal side they had Capt Philip Kaye(1) at 1, with Col Justin Stanhope-White(1) at 2, Capt Jack Mann(2) at 3 and the Army Coach Gaston Devrient (5) at back. The British Army know all about attack and they duly set off in the 1st period on the charge with some fine linking play by Devrient to Phil Kaye at 1 who despite not grasping a stick since July ran the length of the ground to open the account. From the restart a lucky swing of the stick saw the Army break once again down the ground to score and by the end of a busy first chukka 3 -1/2 was the score. Thai Polo Club began though to come back and some very good and clever work by Andrew Hine who found the stick of Manu Cereceda pulled the score back to within ½ goal at the break. The scene was set for a cracking final 2 periods with some fine polo being played by Gaston Devrient to keep out the ever probing runs by Hine ably backed up by Harold Link. Mann and Stanhope-White marked fiercely. In the 3rd Thai PC took the lead for the first time with an excellent strike by Manu. So with scores 6 ½ to 6 the increasingly churned up ground looked like a ploughed field in the deepening gloom. A fine drive by Devrient down the ground looked as if it would be reached by Hine but as so often his fine backhand was met by Mann on a full swing and the ball blazed through the goal. Some anxious minutes passed on the slippy ground and when the final bell rang out the British Army were the victors by 7 – 6 1/2.
So ended a wonderful day’s polo ably umpired throughout by Bhawani Kalbi. It was great credit to all teams that there were no disputes or shouting and it was played in a true spirit as befits a British Polo Day.