BMW POLO SERIES 2013

BMW POLO SERIES 2013:
The South African Polo Association is thrilled to announce that Chile have accepted our invitation to send their National side to participate in this year's BMW International Polo Series. The first Test will take place at Shongweni in Hillcrest, Durban on Sunday 18 August with the second, and final Test, taking place at Waterfall Park in Sunninghill, Johannesburg on Sunday 25 August. Chile are regular visitors to these shores and have toured South Africa on numerous occasions. They have participated in the BMW Series five times since 1978, the most recent being in 2010. South Africa have beaten the Chileans in each of these Series so there can be no doubt that the visitors will be hungry for victory.
Chile won the 2008 FIP World Polo Championships which were held in Mexico City and they continue to be a dominant force in world polo. Polo fans and spectators can be assured of another brilliant Test Series - please see all details regarding dates, times, ticket prices and directions on our website www.sapolo.org.za/bmw-polo-series-august

SA VS NEW ZEALAND MATCH REPORT

SA TOUR TO NEW ZEALAND:

NZ Polo International 2013
Kihikihi Polo Club 
Nga Rakau Ground 
9^th February 2013 
New Zealand V South Africa

It was a glorious summer afternoon, 25 degrees with a slight cooling breeze. Paul & Jenny Kay’s Nga Rakau ground looked a picture, the side-lines filled with marquees, pavilions and umbrellas, and an expectant crowd.

South Africa had sent a young team, we saw 3 of the players in 2007 F.I.P. Zone D play-offs in a 14 goal team and now here they were, 5 years later, playing off 26 goals. Brothers Nachi and Jean du Plessis with Tom de Bruin and Duncan Watson, all under 25 years old, had looked very tidy in the practice games. New Zealand stayed with their seasoned campaigners, John-Paul Clarkin, Tommy Wilson and Sam Hopkinson, and added new representative at this level, Thomas Hunt.

The scene was set, Waipa District Mayor, Alan Livingstone, welcomed the teams and the ball was bowled in to start the match. South Africa scored first with a Jean du Plessis penalty. Tommy, John-Paul and Sam scored field goals and Jean converted another penalty to give NZ a 3 – 2 lead at the end of the first chukka.

Chukka 2 and the teams traded penalties, one to Jean and one from Tommy.

Chukka 3 was a goal festival, both teams scored 3 field goals each and another successful penalty taken by Jean du Plessis had the score tied 7 – 7 at half time.

The crowd flooded the pitch looking for divots but there were none so they ambled about chatting, seeing and being seen.

The half time team talks must have changed the mind-set of both teams as the game tightened up in the 4^th chukka and no goals were scored.

South Africa scored the first 2 goals in the 5^th giving them a 9 -7 lead which made the NZ supporters a little nervous but penalties from Tommy and John-Paul brought the score to 9 -9 at the end of the chukka.

Jean and Tommy traded penalties early in the 6^th chukka so the score was still tied, side-line pundits started to think about extra time. There was a melee near half way when suddenly Sam Hopkinson broke free with the ball and ran to goal to give NZ the lead. The Africans came back hard but ran out of time and at the final bell the score was 11 – 10 to NZ. The crowds were delighted!

 Jean du Plessis had 100% success with his penalty hits and was named man of the match. Andrew Parrott’s pony played by Nachi du Plessis was awarded the pony prize.

The curtain raiser match between the North Island and South Island Colts was won by the Southerners in a very fast match.

TOURNAMENT REPORT

FIP WORLD CUP SNOW POLO TOURNAMENT:

South Africa played Argentina in the first semi final of the FIP World Cup Snow polo tournament. Argentina were instructed by the organising body to change their team line up due to an irregularity of one of their player’s handicap. He was substituted by a 6 goal Chilean so SA were under no illusions as to the enormity of their task.

The first two chukkas was all Argentina and it looked like the SA boys were shell shocked and out played in all departments. It was evident that Argentine wanted SA to play them at their game and ran the boys ragged resulting in a half time score of 4-0 to the Argentine. After a constructive team talk, South Africa came out firing in the third and brought the score back to 4-3 with no reply from the South Americans. A missed penalty opportunity would have squared matters - nonetheless it looked like SA could pull off an upset. 

Conditions in the last period were tough with the snow having become slushy making running polo difficult. Argentine scored giving them a two goal lead again but SA soon pulled this back and kept the pressure squarely in their opponent’s half. The Kings of polo eventually broke the shackles and managed a run away goal effectively sealing the match.

Losing so narrowly to the best polo playing nation in the world was no disgrace - South Africa is definitely becoming a force in world polo.

The second semi final between Hong Kong against England was won by the home team setting up a final between the Argentine and Hong Kong.

Sunday 3rd February dawned with heavy snow falling making conditions for the final difficult - especially with so much extra snow on the pitch. The organisers tried desperately to compact the snow using two big snow cats fitted with compactors at the rear but the snow was relentless and fell throughout the day. The encounter between the two teams never reached its full potential and ended with Hong Kong edging out Argentine by two goals.

England played South Africa for third and fourth place respectively with the Brits winning the encounter by two goals.