But, as you can see from the photo, not that Calcutta Cup….all the Rugby fans can put away the flags and bunting as the Calcutta Cup lifted was for the noble sport of Polo.
Border Reivers Polo Club organised their second Calcutta Cup match between a Scotland team consisting of Will Ramsay (Borders), Jamie Scott (Borders), Alistair Archibald (Edinburgh) and Jamie Douglas (Edinburgh) and a Rest of the World Select, with of Charlie Swanson (Borders), James Douglas (Edinburgh), Gaston Carozzo (Argentina) and Thom Bell (Perth and ‘New Zealand’).
The aim of the event was to promote polo in Scotland and a fair sized crowd turned out on a sunny Sunday to watch a thrilling finale. The match was over 8 chukkas, played over Saturday and Sunday and Scotland ended the first day 7 goals to 5-and-a-half goals ahead (half goals are calculated by handicap) and looking good for the Cup.
The second day started badly for them, however, with the RoW team racing away to a 1-and-a-half goal lead with three scores in the opening period. The lead swapped hands a couple of times during the rest of the match with nobody really dominating, but Scotland managed to hold on for a win, the final score being 11 to 10-and-a-half.
In one of the supplementary finals on the Sunday, Edinburgh Polo Club beat Border Reivers 7 goals to 3-and-a-half to end up with a well deserved win, a cup and a large bottle of Champagne.
Report and Photo by John Preece
Gallery – http://www.photoboxgallery.com/jlp-photographytoo
