In one of the tournament’s most eagerly
anticipated games between New Zealand’s PricewaterhouseCoopers
All Blacks and Thailand’s Screwless Tuskers, what appeared to
be an academic result to the All Blacks, was instead a tense
two-chukka tussle for the ball. All Blacks Steve McDowell
knocked home the match’s first goal, converting a great pass
and showing his world-class sporting form. Any complacency the
tourists might have felt was short lived with the Tuskers Tak
scoring a brilliant equaliser as the half-time gong rang. An
early second chukka penalty by former prop-forward McDowell,
gave the All Blacks some breathing space.
However, with the Tuskers camped on the
All Blacks scoreline for most of the second half and the
Tuskers’ Tak narrowly missing an equaliser, there was no
adrenalin abatement in the kiwi camp. Ultimately brawn
overcame beauty, and the Tuskers gracefully conceded a 2-1
defeat.
In the afternoon’s other games, final
results were out of kilter with the pundits expectations of
evenly balanced scorelines from equally matched teams of
experienced horse polo players. Though deserving of their
wins, score differentials didn’t do justice to the nip and
tuck battles fought on the field, with Chivas Regal going down
6-1 to Thailand’s Mobile Easy and Australia’s Sandalford
cruising to an 8-0 victory over Mullis Capital.
Sandalford’s Greg Johnson, Peter
Prendiville and Nick Bowen kept the pressure on a plucky
Mullis side but their fluency, strategy and execution, kept
Mullis away from their goal line. Against Chivas Regal,
Thailand’s Mobile Easy turned every opportunity to gold, with
Omsin Pratummalee playing out of his seat. Chivas’ Peter
Prentice took the art of generosity to new levels with his
monster miss on a sitter, a goal which had it bounced over the
line could have given the Scots renewed energy.
In other matches, Bangkok Bank Ladies
won 3-2 over DBS Ladies, Mercedes Benz pummelled British
Airways 13-2, American Express went down 3-1 to Scottish St
Andrews House and Australia’s Element had a convinving 4-1 win
over Kuoni UK.
Thursday’s games start at 9am with the
PricewaterhouseCoopers All Blacks against Sandalford Winery.
