Talacrest Prince of Wales’s Championship Cup Day 3

 

Park Place secured their second win of the Talacrest Prince of Wales Championship Cup tournament. They had a convincing victory over HH Sheikha Maitha’s UAE Polo Team, beating them in the rain on the Duke’s Ground 10-5. Facundo Pieres and Juan Britos were in excellent form, ensuring Park Place were 5-1 up at half-time. The UAE Team, playing in a new combination for the first time – nine-goaler Bartolome Castagnola wearing a UAE shirt for this tournament  – took time to gel and gave away too many penalties in the first half. UAE Polo Team started to find their form in the second with the big hitting Alfredo Capella and Castagnola closing the gap to 6-4 going into the sixth chukka. Park Place then upped a gear and great team-work from Pieres, Britos and Will Harper saw them score four goals in this final chukka, ensuring they head to their third match on Thursday, against Monterosso with two good wins under their belt. Castagnola got one back for his new team in the final minutes of this match and with this first game played, UAE Polo Team will build on that experience for their next match, against Vikings, on Wednesday.

 

Both Monterosso and Bardon were looking for that all important first win after going down by just one goal apiece in their opening games earlier in the week. However it is Monterosso that go into week two feeling a little calmer as they won today 11-9. This was a tense and feisty game which saw Facundo Sola being sent off for two minutes in the first chukka after an incident with Alfredo Bigatti, while the umpires showed a couple of yellow cards later in the game. There was nothing between these two teams for much of the match, reflected in the 5-5 scoreline at half-time. Monterosso managed to put some air in the score at the end of the fourth (9-7), with Ignacio Toccalino, Matt Perry and Sola all adding to their team’s tally. Perry in particular had a particularly strong game for Monterosso, always in the right place at the right time and winning the odd horse race against Matias Machado. The tension really showed in the fifth with only Toccalino finding the flags, a spot hit from over 100 yards out from the goal line. Monterosso’s patron was the first to score in the sixth chukka, only for Bigatti and Machado to produce two impressive goals to close the gap. Time was against Bardon now though and on the final bell victory went to Monterosso.