BERENBERG BANK UNITED SERVICES CUP & HACKETT INTER-REGIMENTAL FINAL

FOR the second year running – and for only the second time in its history – the Chapple Cup went to the visiting team, leaving the CSPA empty-handed.

This year it was The British Forces Foundation polo team – the sport's equivalent of cricket’s Lord Taverners – who took the honours.

Having thrashed the CSPA side at the Hackett Rundle Cup Day at Tidworth, they then repeated the feat, albeit in a much closer game, at the Berenberg Bank Finals Day at Guards Polo Club, 24 hours later.

The BFF polo team evolved from Mark Cann’s ‘Leopards’ team playing very badly at the turn of the century. The players get together in aid of the Charity and have included the likes of Hollywood legend Tommy Lee Jones, rock stars Mike Rutherford from Genesis and Kenny Jones (The Who and Small Faces), HRH The Prince of Wales, Prince William, Prince Harry, George Milford Haven and polo greats like the Englishmen Howard and Julian Hipwood, Adam Snow, plus Gabrielle Donoso, and the amazing Argentine Nachos Figueras.

The team come together for a few matches a year, raising money for the Foundation in both America and the UK. The BFF Polo Trophy is competed for every year at different and wonderfully varying venues such as Houston, Richmond Virginia, Palm Beach and Tidworth and has been won by some illustrious teams like Isla Carrol and Gololphin.

The team who squared up against the CSPA the day before at Tidworth for the ICOA Trophy consisted of Pedro Lopez–Valido 1, The Hon Tristan Phillimore 1, Ben Vestey 3 and Mark Cann 0. They dominated from the start and relentlessly increased their stranglehold on the game, snuffing out any hopes that the CSPA may have had of making a comeback. The final score 9 goals to 4_.

But at Guards, with the United Services Cup up for grabs and the overall Chapple Cup Series, the CSPA fielded a stronger side determined to share the honours. However, in an excellent spectacle, they were ultimately out-gunned and it was the unchanged Charity team who ran out victors by 10 goals to 7.

There was more action on the field with the Hackett Inter-Regimental Final between the King's Royal Hussars and the Royal Wessex Yeomanry. The RWxY defended their crown winning the final by 6 goals to 4_.

Berenberg Bank Finals Day: Click for photos