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Sunday 12 August
The Rosie Adams Bowl is the final of the Summer Tournament at Ham Polo Club, sponsored by Peter Adams Agencies - and for some reason the weather always seems a bit 'iffy' - okay this "summer (?)" we've got used to it a bit too much but last year I wrote on this website, when reporting the day:-
'...The weather forecasters' sort of got it right - well it wasn't the best weather for anything really - let alone photography! There was heavy rain, really heavy rain, thunder & lightning and some sunshine - there was also Polo!
So Photoscience.co.uk was happy if not somewhat soggy...'
Well there wasn't much sunshine, there were heavy threatening clouds, a few patches of blue sky, a drop or two of rain and the weird and changing light was not really conducive to photography - for a lot of the match I was reduced to shooting at 1/80 second! - But to look on the upside it did give for images with a lot of movement...
The final was between Los Dientes (3 goal) and Pantera (4 goal), all teeth were present and correct at the beginning of the match, surprisingly:
Los Dientes (LD); fielded, in order, Matthew Tooth (-1), Lucas Fernandez (1) Marianela Castagnola (2) and at Bk Rob Shepherd (1) - Total 3
they were up against for
Pantera (P); Ben de Rivaz (0), Rob Birkin (-2), Jules Stevens (1) and Bk Jamie le Hardy (5) - Total 4
Therefore Los Dientes started the match with a ½ goal lead (HPA calculation - difference in team handicap divided by 6 multiply by the number of chukkas to be played - a fraction of a goal is taken as a half - got it?!) Just for visitors to this site that do not particularly know about Polo and the players ... Marianela Castagnola is a 2 goal player and regarded as one of the best female players in the country at the present time - Jamie Le Hardy is a five goal player and 'really rather talented' - at the Cartier Day he was the substitute for the Prince of Wales team...and me? - I'm sensible and stay at a (relatively) safe distance off the pitch!
LD took the initiative after about 90 seconds of the first chukka, with Pantera levelling the field goals almost exactly a minute later, but don't forget LD carried a half goal lead through handicapping. Pantera then pulled into a half goal lead by another score with just under 2½ minutes to go in the first, LD were determined to stay in touch and regained the lead 40 seconds later. In the first both Jamie and Marianela opened their score cards - both scored hat-tricks (+) in the match. The second chukka saw LD again put the pressure on scoring after 2 minutes and then again a further 59 seconds to take the score to 4½:2 in the favour of Los Dientes less than mid-way through the session - Pantera needed to make sure that they didn't lose touch and set about the task taking two goals in the last 45 seconds before the first bell of the chukka - and then a third with only 9 seconds to go - half-time and the score was 4½:5 to Pantera.
The third chukka saw Pantera again score after 2 minutes, and although a further five minutes went by without any field goals, there was a passage of open play which was typical of the style of the match, with end to end play and some misses due to uneven bounce; however in the dying seconds of the period Los Dientes pulled back a goal to leave themselves with a deficit of only ½ a goal.
The final chukka saw hard play, hard tackling and some riding-off that made my joints and fillings ache - and I was at a safe distance! Nobody was giving up in this match at all - and no quarter was being given - with 2 minutes and 47 seconds left on the clock Pantera stretched their lead to 1½ goals giving a little bit of a comfort zone - Los Dientes came straight back, scoring 44 seconds later - and for the last 90 seconds before the first bell (and final one in the last chukka) there was desperate play - literally from end to end - strong defensive work and highly aggressive attacking as Los Dientes desperately looked for that last goal to give them the ½ goal lead and Pantera dug in and tried not to make a mistake.
In the end Pantera did manage to hold on and won the match 7:6½
And the Pics?
All images © Duncan Murray/ Photoscience.co.uk 2007
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