British Open play at Cowdray Park
About a month ago (June 2) Twelve Oaks handed Les Lions a 13-11 defeat in Queens Cup competition, trailing early but coming back to capture a 7-5 halftime lead before riding off with the 13-11 win. And despite early leads by Les Lions that carried them right up to the final chukker, it was Twelve Oaks that rallied for the 12-11 win in the Veuve Clicquot British Open for the Gold Cup Wednesday afternoon at the Cowdray Park Polo Club.
Les Lions (Henry Fisher, Agustin Merlos, Sebastian Merlos and Joachim Gottschalk) took an early lead over Twelve Oaks (Chris Hyde, Magoo Laprida, Marcos Di Paola and Inaki Laprida), a position they held in their last meeting. The game was close, but Les Lions were in front, 2-1.
Building on the first chukker edge, Les Lions added three more goals in the second for a 5-2 advantage. Twelve Oaks was limited to a single goal and trailed by three goals.
The two teams exchanged goals in the third chukker, with both Les Lions and Twelve Oaks putting two goals on the scoreboard. At the end of the first half of play, Les Lions boasted a three goal, 7-4 lead.
Twelve Oaks cut into the Les Lions lead in the fourth chukker. Outscoring Les Lions 2-1, Twelve Oaks now trailed by only two goals, 8-6.
A fifth chukker rally by Twelve Oaks had Les Lions on the defense through much of the period. Twelve Oaks registered three fifth chukker goals, outscoring Les Lions for the second consecutive chukker and coming to within a goal lf Les Lions, 10-9.
Twelve Oaks gave it all they had in the final chukker of play. Les Lions had led from the opening chukker, but had slowly allowed Twelve Oaks to slip back into the game. Sitting on top of a three goal lead at the end of the first half, Les Lions had watched that lead erode to a single goal, 10-9, at the end of the fifth
Twelve Oaks opened the final chukker with a pair of goals to tie, and then take the lead from Les Lions, 11-10. Les Lions fought back in vain, however, with Twelve Oaks salvaging the win n a 12-11 game.
The victory has Twelve Oaks at 3-0 while Les Lions fell to 1-1.
Veuve Clicquot British Open for the Gold Cup action continues on Thursday, July 4 with three games. In the opener, UAE (2-0) will meet El Remanso (2-0) followed by a contest between Emlor (0-2) and Lucchese (0-2). Zacara (1-0) will close out the day in a match with HB Polo (0-2).