Posted: 10th March 2015 | Back to news feed
England won the International Arena Polo Test Match at
the All England Polo Club on Saturday (7 March), beating Ireland 18-13 to claim
the Bryan Morrison Trophy.
With the two highest-goal teams in the fixture’s history lining up for the
match, it was always going to be close – and at half time the score was 9-5 in
Ireland’s favour. However, the second half saw England fight their way back
into the lead, with just two goals separating the teams with the final 2min
30sec left on the clock.
But as the clock counted down, the England team of Chris Hyde (9-goals), Jamie
Le Hardy (7) and Jonny Good (8) increased their lead to five goals.
After the match, captain Chris Hyde explained that a dominant second half had
been part of their game plan. “It was part of our team play. We had used our
weaker horses by the end of the second chukka, knowing we’d need a strong third
chukka and then would have the wind for the last chukka,” he said.
Hyde was pleased to be on the winning side once again, after the USA ended
England’s unbroken winning streak in last year’s Test Match. The 9-goal player,
who is Europe’s highest rated Arena player, gave credit to his team and to
everyone who provided ponies for the match.
“Jamie and Jonny haven’t played a competitive match for months and got this big
call up. When you get players of the quality of Jamie and Jonny on a team
together they’re going to be tough to beat, and they were.”
Jamie Le Hardy won the Most Valuable Player award, while Irish team player
Richard Le Poer’s ride Dig Deep was the Best Playing Pony. Richard’s Ireland
team mates were Sebastian Dawnay and Ryan Pemble, both 8-goal players.
In the Hickstead 12-Goal Challenge, which preceded the Test Match, the Irish
team (Richard Fagan, Niall Donnelly and Michael Henderson) won 20-9 against
Wales (Ricky Cooper, Roddy Matthews and Roddy Williams), ending the Welsh sides
three-year winning streak.
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