Cheltenham College Sweep the Board

The weather was kind and the 2007 Schools Arena Season got off to warmish sunshine and no rain ! Excellent play was on show in all divisions.

In Division 3, we welcomed Bradfield College who last year only had 3 players and now have over 20, many of whom are learning to ride at the same time as learning to play polo. Many thanks to their manager who has worked very hard to get polo started at Bradfield. Bradfield A fought their way to the Final only to meet the first of the Cheltenham College teams who were to be victorious. Although Bradfield scored a goal, the Cheltenham College team came through as the more experienced team and scored 4 good goals to win the division 4-1.

Division 2 started with some high scoring games in Round 1 and Round 2 and then for the play offs the scores settled down slightly. It really showed that in a 6 minute chukkas you have to get off the mark quickly and start scoring goals asap - the teams were obviously following managers' instructions! The final was between Rugby A and Cheltenham College B. Rugby A held their own for most of the chukka but Cheltenham College B powered through towards the end winning 3-0.

The Divisions 1 final of this 2007 Intermediate Tournament was then eagerly awaited - would Cheltenham College A (Ali Paterson, Rory Musgrave and Nick Eldred) make it a clean sweep? Marlborough A (Harold Hodges, Freddie Dear & James Cooper) definitely had other ideas. All the Marlborough team worked exceptionally hard, particularly Harold Hodges, but although they scored 3 goals they could not contain the Cheltenham College team. The Cheltenham College team played good polo always backing each other up and employing sensible tactics appropriate to where they were in the arena. Ali and Nick made some lovely plays - neat, clean shots and Rory was the voice of the team calling plays and encouraging the team to goal. So another win for Cheltenham College, making it all 3 divisions and showing what strength in depth the College have.

See you all next week, next week and next week!!

Kate Beim

Results

Most Promising Player - Izzy Finbow (Rugby School)
Most Valuable Player - Rory Musgrave (Cheltenham College)