La Bamba de Arco squeak to Queen’s Cup victory
By Herbert Spencer
The 10-goal Pieres brothers Gonzalito and Facundo had a real fight on their hands Friday in their first outing in this year’s 22-goal Queen’s Cup tournament at Guards Polo Club.
In an exciting see-saw battle, Jean-François Decaux’s La Bamba de Arco, with the Pieres, just squeaked by Ben Soliemani’s Mansour Jaeger-LeCoultre, winning by 10 goals to 9 only in the last chukka.
La Bamba de Arco are a seasoned team with high-goal victories under their belt and the only side in English polo with two 10-goalers. Mansour Jaeger-LeCoultre are complete newcomers, so the closeness of the score came as a bit of a surprise. The game was tied at the end of three of the six chukkas.
The newcomers scored first and led by 0-1 at the end of the first period. Both teams scored twice in the second chukka, leaving the match tied 2—2. By halftime, La Bamba de Arco were leading 4-3.
Mansour Jaeger-LeCoultre outscored their opponents in the fourth period to tie it up again 5-5. Scoring was again equal in the fifth chukka to leave it 6-6. La Bamba de Arco took the sixth to win 10-9.