Zacara and Les Lions to play British Open final
By Herbert Spencer
Lyndon Lea’s Zacara and Joachim Gottschalk’s Les Lions, two teams that have never before made it to the final, will meet Sunday to battle for the Veuve Clicquot Gold Cup in the British Open Championship at Cowdray Park Polo Club.
Usually favoured powerhouse teams such as previous finalists Dubai, La Bamba de Areco and Loro Piana fell by the wayside in the quarterfinals and semi-finals, leaving the honours to Lea’s and Gottschalk’s determined sides. David and Goliath comes to mind.
On Thursday Zacara, who already had knocked titleholders Dubai out in the quarterfinals, downed Jean-François Decaux’s La Bamba de Areco, 2009 champions, by 13 goals to 7. Decaux’s two 10-goalers, Gonzalito and Facundo Pieres, obviously had a bad day.
La Bamba de Areco led 2-1 in the first chukka. In the second period Zacara equalised, then took the lead before Decaux’s side equalised at 3-3. Three goals by Ignatius Du Plessis put Zacara ahead 6-4 at halftime.
Zacara increased their lead to 9-6 in the fourth chukka, then held their opponents scoreless in the fifth to gain an 11-6 advantage and finished the sixth with a comfortable win.
In the other semi-final, Les Lions stayed ahead throughout their match against Nick Clarke’s Salkeld, leading by a whopping 7 goals in the second period, and earning a place in Sunday’s final with a 12-10 win.