20th anniversary of The Polo Club of Chantilly
The ‘great’ game did not come out as expected, due to heavy rains the match was called off just before noon. But the magnanimity and sensitivity of the players proved to be way beyond, the nature’s curse
22 May 2016 | France
The ‘great’ game did not come out as expected, due to heavy rains the match was called off just before noon. But the magnanimity and sensitivity of the players proved to be way beyond, the nature’s curse. All the 8 players agreed to play as and when the field dried a bit, and a little before 2:00pm the match began but the condition could only permit a 4 chukkers game, against a chukkers game, which was initially planned.
Two players were in Paris (and came back in a flash), and the horses had stayed either in Normandy, or in the west-Parisian clubs. It was then that all the professional French players of Chantilly (Adrien LeGallo, Clément Gosset, Edouard Pan) joined forces to lend their horses to their France Team buddies, as only Brieuc Rigaux, and Pierre Henri Ngoumou, had their horses on site. A great solidarity gesture for this team and proof of friendship between the professionals.
But none of this affected the motivation and optimism of each of the 8 players. They all were definitely at their best. The match was precise but equally a nerve wracking and nails biting experience, which took its rounds in between the talks. Argentina boasted of a clear win of 11-6 against their opponents.
Brieuc Rigaux sums it up this way: “We held in the beginning of the game, but then, we let them the occasion to get confident. Our defence plan, especially on Pancho Bensadon, didn’t hold: too often he was isolated and so he could organize his game just like he wanted. Argentina has players who are more used to playing at top-level compared to us but today, it’s clear that the difference of the quality of the horses has really had an impact”.
