Sunday September 18 marked the end of a historical edition of the Open de France, that saw no less than sixteen teams up to 16 goals, in participation. And following a spectacular championship match, played at Polo Club du Domaine de Chantilly, Talandracas lifted France’s most prestigious trophy after 20 years, the second of their remarkable career.
The road to the final for Talandracas and Los Dragones was kinda different: Los Dragones were undefeated after winning all their five games; while Talandracas, despite having lost to Kazak in their debut, were able to bounce back and claimed the remaining matches. However, and despite none of them earned impressive wins, they were the accurate finalists.
As one of the players stated after the match, the final was completely different to what happened in the tournament. Talandracas got off to a fierce start, in what was perhaps their best performance of the whole tournament. They overwhelmed Los Dragones swiflty, through an extraordinary discipline and accurate team play; the first foul was only awarded in the fourth chukka. Also, Juan Martín Zubía provided another outstanding performance, as Talandracas’ flagship man as well as the top scorer. Talandracas dominance was so powerful, that they were able to reach a commanding 6-1 lead by half time.
Although the Sztarkman family’s team seemed to bounce back in the second half, Talandracas had another ideas in mind; they shut all the doors to avoid their contenders to take off. Meanwhile Huges Carmignac and Rufino Bensadon found the flags several times in order to widen their advantage. The final result, 11-5, clearly marked Talandracas’ merciless dominance thoroghout the five chukkas of play.
The Open de France WAS STREAMED LIVE ON POLOLINE TV, AND ALL THE GAMES ARE AVAILABLE TO RELIVE HERE.
FINAL OPEN DE FRANCE: TALANDRACAS 11-5 LOS DRAGONES
TALANDRACAS: Hugues Carmignac 1 (1 goal), Rufino Bensadon 7 (4), Juan Martín Zubía 8 (6), Edouard Carmignac 0. Total: 16.
LOS DRAGONES: Sam Sztarkman 2 (1 goal), Jota Chavanne 5 (1), Bautista Bayugar 8 (3), Alex Sztarkman 1. Total: 16.
Score Talandracas: 2-0, 3-0, 6-1, 10-3, 11-5.
Umpires: Gaston Lucero & Jason Dixon. Third man: Peter Wright.
MVP: Juan Martín Zubía.
BPP: Peregrino La Banda, ridden by Rufino Bensadon.
Amateur MVP: Hugues Carmignac.