Balanz Capital and its patron, Claudio Porcel, were making their Cartier Queen’s Cup debut on The Castle Ground this morning and there was much interest in this new squad. Not least because they were fielding the impressive young duo of Camilo (Jeta) Castagnola and Lorenzo Chavanne. This pair arrived at Guards Polo Club fresh from success in America, where they won the US Open together with Pilot. Meanwhile Adebayo Karim’s Shoreline were hunting their first Cartier Queen’s Cup win, having narrowly lost by a goal to Akasha earlier in the week.
With such a polo pedigree it was no surprise that Balanz Capital started favourites for this game and initially they did not disappoint, commanding a 12-4 lead at half-time. Porcel scored the first goal, picking up a pass from Chavanne. Meanwhile some accurate penalty taking by Rufino Bensadon and some inspired play from Ed Banner-Eve put Shoreline on the scoreboard. It was a different story in the fourth chukka though. Three penalty conversions by Bensadon in almost as many minutes suddenly closed the gap to 12-7. With more goals from Bensadon, Banner-Eve and Alejandro Muzzio in the fifth there was now only a goal difference. With Karim making sure he was always in the right place for Shoreline this game was either side’s for the taking. Just before the end of the fifth Castagnola delivered a big hit towards goal but his mallet head broke. Fortunately Ned Hine was perfectly placed to pick up the ball and fire through Balanz Capital’s first goal since the third chukka! This seemed to be the wake up call they needed and Porcel’s team returned revitalised for the sixth chukka. Chavanne and Castagnola made easy work of any traffic to deliver some wonderful goals. Shoreline didn’t give up but the momentum had turned in favour of Balanz Capital and they ran out the winners 16-11.
Image credit: Art of Polo
The Teams:
Score Progression:
Game Statistics:
Second Match
Next up was a tense battle between Akasha and Sujan Indian Tigers on The Queen’s Ground, both playing for the second time. The teams were evenly matched which resulted in a penalty-strewn, stop-start game. Sujan Indian Tigers, looking for their first win, had a slight advantage (6-5) at half-time thanks to some almost impossible shots on goal from Juan Martin Zubia. Fellow Tiger Marcos Araya started the fourth by successfully converting a penalty to give this team a much-needed two-goal advantage. Mistakes appeared from the Tigers and Pablo MacDonough was just waiting to pounce. He successfully converted several penalties in the second half for Balanz Capital and team-mate Facundo Fernandez Llorente produced some breathtakingly fast runs up the field to score. He seemed to create space out of nowhere. By the end of the fifth Akasha were back ahead 10-7. Sujan Indian Tigers stayed focused and were a little less frenetic in the sixth and although Araya and Juan Britos scored it was not enough to reverse their fortunes.
Image credit: Art of Polo
The Teams:
Score Progression:
Game Statistics:
Stats provided by https://poloreport.com/