Two incredible games today on a public holiday here in the UK – and the hottest Bank Holiday Monday since records began! Both White Crane and Signet/Segavas needed to keep their cool though as they were searching for that all-important first win. Honours went to Alexie Calvert-Ansari’s White Crane 13-10 on the Castle Ground, but they had to contend with a resurgent Signet/Segavas in the latter stages of the game. Things were pretty even in the first two chukkas, but White Crane found some much needed air in the score in the third, heading to the break on a 7-4 lead. Polito Pieres was particularly impressive in the early stages and with both Tommy Beresford and Matt Perry providing superb support, White Crane had the edge. Tommy Severn turned things around in the fourth, converting two penalties as well as an angled field goal to level the score (7-7). Team-mate Matias MacDonough did a great job of keeping him free to go to goal. Perry closed the chukka for White Crane to re-establish their advantage going into the fifth and they continued with their attacking play in this chukka, taking the score to 11-7. MacDonough converted a penalty and Alfredo Bigatti successfully negotiated traffic to score towards the end of the fifth chukka, but Perry again got free and ran to goal to close this chukka 12-9 in favour of White Crane. As this game could still go either way, play got more frenetic as the time ticked away. Signet/Segavas started the scoring but the final result was in no doubt when White Crane’s Pieres calmly converted a penalty 3 with just a minute left on the clock.
Image credit: Art of Polo
The Teams:
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Second Match
Cibao La Pampa/Murus Sanctus won the second match but had to go to overtime and a seventh chukka to secure victory. What was most remarkable about this win is that Jehangiri Polo was in the lead or level until the sixth minute of the sixth chukka. Cibao La Pampa/Murus Sanctus then only had the advantage for a few seconds before Rosendo Torreguitar levelled again for Jehangiri. This forced this remarkable game into sudden death, extra time. Invariably a golden goal is found quickly but both teams in this match had equal chances at goal in the seventh but sent them wide. The result was some wonderfully fast and flowing polo. The commentators had already started talking about a potential 8th chukka when Paco de Narvaez picked up a lovely pass from Carlos Ulloa and fired through the winner. This was his ninth goal of the game and Cibao La Pampa/Murus Sanctus’s first win.
Image credit: Art of Polo
The Teams:
Score Progression:
Game Statistics:
Stats provided by https://poloreport.com/