After two days of thrilling quarter-final action in the Cartier Queen’s Cup, 19 teams are now down to just four. This quartet – Marques de Riscal/La Dolfina, Aureus, Balanz Capital and Dubai – continue their Queen’s Cup journey this Wednesday in the semi-finals.
Marques de Riscal/La Dolfina secured the first semi-final ticket but had to contend with a competitive Kazak team to get through. Both squads had to contend with cold, windy and damp weather too. Kazak had a slight advantage in the first half, narrowly leading 6-5 at half-time. Their goals had come off the sticks of Nico Pieres, Leon Donoso and patron Sebastian Aguettant. Meanwhile, Simon Prado and Marques de Riscal/La Dolfina’s captain Poroto Cambiaso kept their team in contention but neither side was really dominant. The second half was all about Marques de Riscal/La Dolfina. Cambiaso and Prado fired through four field goals in the fourth, to only one in reply off the stick of Donoso. Surprisingly, there was only one penalty in this chukka, a spot hit to Kazak. Suddenly Marques de Riscal/La Dolfina were in the lead (9-7). Fran Elizalde fired through two to level the scores in the fifth only for Prado to convert a penalty and find a field goal to regain the advantage. It was a similar story in the sixth and when Alexandre Aznar fired through a 30-yard penalty with little time left on the clock i Marques de Riscal/La Dolfina victory was assured.
Image credit: Art of Polo
The Teams:
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Second Match
Next up was an emotional game on The Duke’s Ground between Aureus and Gaston. Both sides had moments which could have won the game, but it took a seventh chukka and a golden goal to confirm Aureus as victors. This win was particularly pertinent to Aureus as it was on this field almost 12 months earlier that their patron, Sunjay Kapur, had collapsed and died during a Queen’s Cup game. His widow, Priya Sachdev Kapur, was at the club to cheer her team on and it was she who received the Platinum Jubilee Trophy from the Club’s Chairman Lt Col Sean O’Dwyer. This had been such a close game with the teams only ever being separated by a goal. Some spectacular saves, including an impressive clearance on the line by Beltran Laulhe in the final chukka made it even more memorable. Mark Tomlinson scored the winner but it was his team-mate Jake Coventry that got the ball free and passed it up to his captain. Aureus will now play Marques de Riscal/La Dolfina in the first semi-final on Wednesday – for The Kerry Packer Trophy.
Image credit: Art of Polo
The Teams:
Score Progression:
Game Statistics:
Stats provided by https://poloreport.com/