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Fabulous final in Deauville

A great match and a win for Richard Mille in OT

Defeated Royal Barriere and won the Coupe d'Or

By PoloLine & Alejandra Ocampos

Deauville International Polo Club hosted the final of the Coupe d'Or, that featured Richard Mille and Royal Barriere. For many reasons, the more than 900 people who attended the event expected a great match. And for sure it was: Richard Mille and Royal Barriere put on a thrilling performance. 

Richard Mille opened the scores, through a penalty conversion by Guillermo Willington. Quickly, Royal Barriere tied at 1-1, courtesy of Pancho Bensadon. Then, RIchard Mille took the lead again, with another penalty conversion by Willington, while Bensadon scored again for Royal Barriere. The scores of the first chukker ended with Willington's third goal, to give Richard Mille a 3-2 advantage.

Bahar Jeffri's squad opened the second chukker with two goals by Guillermo Willington, who converted two penalties (40 yards and 30 yards), while Royal Barriere answered with two goals by Facundo Sola. It was already a very close match, with Richard Mille leading by only one goal - 5-4.

Action became even tighter in the third period, as both teams put constant pressure and exchanged many goals, in a very intense match, both offensive and defensive. Therefore, as a result, Royal Barriere won the third chukker 3-2, which meant that the scoreboard was reading a 7-all by half time.

Oli Cudmore put Richard Mille back in the lead in the fourth chukker. It was about to be Bahar Jeffri's team single goal in that period, as the rest belonged to Royal Barriere. Or we should say, to Facu Sola, as the young and talented Argentine player scored three unanswered goals, to give André Fabre´s team first lead - 10-8.

Royal Barriere extended their advantage to 11-8 in the fifth chukker, with a field goal by Pancho Bensadon, but Richard Mille could level the scores with three consecutive goals by their star player, Guillermo Willington. Juan Ambroggio put Royal Barriere back in the lead, but Willington once again converted another penalty shot, to tie at 12-12, and ready for the last seven minutes of play.

As it happened thoroghout the whole match, the sixth chukker was very intense and hard fought. Richard Mille hit first, with two penalty conversions by Pablo MacDonough, that secured Bahar Jeffri and Co a 14-12 lead. With a two goals advantage, Richard Mille managed to control the match, but something went wrong: two penalties were awarded to Royal Barriere, that were successfully converted by Facu Sola, so the scores leveled at 14-all, and the match went into OT.

Richard Mille and Royal Barriere put on an absolutely amazing and high level match. When regulation match was over, both teams receive a big applause from the attendance. Possibly, many regret that, after such a great performance put by both teams, a tie would have been the right result. Unfortunately, things are not that way, and one of them were about to lose...  Richard Mille and Royal Barriere rode back onto the field to play a hard fought extra chukker. And so hard fought it was, that a fault by Royal Barriere ended up in a 60-yards penalty for Richard Mille. And there was Guillermo Willington, one more time, the man of the day, who scored the goal for Richard Mille, who finally won one of the most coveted trophies in polo, the Coupe d'Or in Deauville.

Score Richard Mille: 3-2, 5-4, 7-7, 8-10, 12-12, 14-14, 15-14

MVP: Pablo MacDonough (Richard Mille)
BPP: Fernanda (Guillermo Willington)
Top Scorer: Guillermo Willington (Richard Mille)