Ralph Lauren’s Nacho Figueras led his team to a one goal win in St. Moritz on Friday.
St. Moritz snow polo report from Ebe Sievwright
Adverse weather conditions in the manner of nearly three feet of snow on the playing surface at the 2014 St. Moritz Snow Polo World Polo Cup on Snow meant that Friday’s games on the ice had to be cancelled, replacing them with a penalty shootout between Ralph Lauren (Michael Bickford, Jamie Morrison, Nacho Figueras and Ruki Baillieu) and Deutsche Bank (Karan Thapar, Ryan Pemble, Oliver Hipwood and Glen Gilmore) to determine the winners of the 2014 Hertz Trophy.
Umpires and tournament organizers placed a goal right in front of the grandstand with three distance markers; 60, 40 and 30-yards away. Both teams gathered around the penalty zone and one by one the players took their turns. Each player was given two shots from each penalty distance giving us a total of 48 to take the scores from. The crowd…a pleasing turnout, held their breath as these brave contestants stepped into the zone to have their try.
The total tallies of the two teams efforts threw up Ralph Lauren as the winners by 1 goal with a total of 9 over Deutsche Bank who only managed to score 8.
A worthy of note were two high scorers… Karan Thapar of DB with a total of two… one of which was a 60 (and it is his first year on the snow). Ralph Lauren’s Nacho Figueras scored a staggering five goals, two of which were 60s!
CARTIER 16, DEUTSCHE BANK 15
In the second round of the penalty shoot outs, Cartier (Jonathan Munro Ford, Max Charlton, Chris Hyde and Hissam Ali Hydor) and BMW (Richard Davis, Johnny Good, Tarquin Southwell and John-Paul Clarkin) faced each other for this tense stand-off.
Putting the previous teams Ralph Lauren and Deutsche Bank to shame, Cartier and BMW had a remarkably high scoring rate, although they had been given a lot more shooting practice beforehand. Hissam Ali Hyder and Chris Hyde both put their 60 yard penalties to bed safely while highest rated player of the tournament John Paul Clarkin got only one with a very narrow miss on his second. Cartier Patron Jonathan Monroe Ford contributed to his team’s success by scoring an easy under arm 60-yard shot while holding on to a very agitated horse for his last 30-yard shot.
Good, Southwell, Hyde and Hyder all got through the shootout converting five out of their six allotted opportunities.
In the end it was a 1 goal difference that sent Cartier to the final on Sunday against Ralph Lauren and shows a very disappointed BMW the exit for this year’s World Cup on Snow.
Weather permitting, Saturday’s action will feature Cartier (2-0) and Ralph Lauren (2-0) in an 11am showdown of undefeated teams while BMW (0-2) and Deutsche Bank (0-2) will face one another at 2pm.