The 132nd. Hurlingham Open, the first leg of the Argentine Triple Crown, resumed on Thursday September 25, with the two last quarter final matches, that were played at the Argentine Association of Polo, in Pilar. The Hurlingham Open sees eight teams up to 40 goals, in participation.
La Irenita La Hache and Sol de Agosto clashed in the first match. The former brings together the MacDonoughs (La Irenita) and the Ulloas (La Hache), led by Pablo MacDonough and Hilario Ulloa, respectively. It’s worth to remember that Pablo MacDonough already played with La Irenita, before swapping to La Natividad. The other two team members are Fran Elizalde and Nachi du Plessis. With regards to Sol de Agosto, the De Narvaez family’s organisation, is coming back to the Triple Crown after many years of absence. The 32-goal lineup is composed by Facundo Sola, Benjamin Panelo, Juan Martín Zubía and Paco de Narvaez. The latter is making his debut in the big leagues at only 17-years-old.
The contest saw a very good first half, in which La Irenita La Hache was the dominating force until the fourth chukka, when Sol de Agosto took off. To everybody’s surprise, they managed to outscore La Irenita La Hache 4-1; from six goals behind now they closed the gap to just three. The young Sol de Agosto foursome were not impressed at all by the experience of their seasoned contenders, a lineup that includes two Palermo winners, Pablo MacDonough and Nachi du Plessis; on the contrary, they put as much pressure as possible to hold La Irenita La Hache back, who had to struggle to maintain their defense very well oiled in order to avoid Sol de Agosto’s fierce attack. In the seventh chukka, Paco de Narvaez produced a great goal to close the gap to just one goal (10-11); but a penalty from the spot converted by Hilario Ulloa widened their advantage to 12-10, with only one chukka remaining. The last chukka began with another great goal by Paco, to keep Sol de Agosto’s hopes alive. Things were not easy at all for La Irenita La Hache – Sol de Agosto were one goal down and La Irenita La Hache were were unable to score the goals they needed to seal the deal. At the end of the day, it was Hilario Ulloa who came to the rescue – he produced two goals (one 30-yards penalty conversion and one from the field), to secure the 14-11 win and a spot in the semifinals.
It’s fair to say that both La Irenita La Hache and Sol de Agosto played the best match up-to-date of the Hurlingham Open; and hats off to Sol de Agosto who, led by Paco de Narvaez and Benjamin Panelo, played a remarkable game that gives enough confidence for the remaining of the Triple Crown.
Up next, UAE and La Ensenada met up to play for the last spot int he semifinals. UAE, who joined forces with Ellerstina in 2024, presented their own team this year, a 34-goal foursome made of Juan Martín Nero, Pablo Pieres, Lukin Monteverde and Tomás Panelo. In the meantime, La Ensenada (34), featured their permanent members, Jerónimo del Carril and Juan Britos, joined by Rufino Bensadon and Gonzalo Ferrari. The latter had to sub in for Guillermo Caset, unable to play yet, due to an injury he suffered in the final of the past Open de France, in Chantilly.
UAE got off to a strong start, by closing the first chukka with a 4-0 lead, an advantage they widened chukka after chukka, thanks to the remarkable team play – the powerful scorers Lukin Monteverde and Tomás Panelo; a fantastic performance delivered by the world’s most renowned back, Juan Martín Nero; and Polito Pieres’ perfect accuracy to convert penalties. UAE were merciless towards La Ensenada, who seemed lost against such a strong contender, who overwhelmed them in a way that by half time UAE had an impressive 16-4 lead. However, La Ensenada found their way slowly, under the command of Jero del Carril, who scored six unanswered goals though the fifth and seventh chukka. But even so, the damage has already been done – by the start of the last chukka they had a 20-11 advantage. It was Juan Martín Nero put the ice on the cake; UAE claimed a 21-13 win, that secured them the last place in semifinals.
The semifinals of the 132nd. Hurlingham Open are due on the weekend, with the following order of play:
- Saturday September 27
1,30pm: Semifinal Drysdale Cup #1, La Hache Cría & Polo vs. Los Machitos
4pm: La Natividad La Dolfina vs. Ellerstina Indios Chapaleufu
- Sunday September 28
1,30pm: Semifinal Drysdale Cup #2, Sol de Agosto vs. La Ensenada
4pm: La Hache La Irenita vs. UAE
132nd. HURLINGHAM OPEN – Teams & Fixture
Cover photo by Matías Callejo/Prensa AAP.