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The Marta & Lucien Barrière Gold Cup

from Polo Times October 2022

from Polo Times October 2022, page 6

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It was a battle between two home teams in The Marta & Lucien Barrière Coupe d’Or Final at Deauville International Polo Club as Brittany Polo Club and Talandracas went head-to-head on Sunday 28 August.

Talandracas already had six previous Coupe d’Or titles under their belts and so the 2,000 strong crowd were in for a treat. The teams did not disappoint and up until the end of the third chukka the scores were never separated by more than a goal. After half-time, Brittany Polo Club took off and gained a three goal lead but Rufino Bensadon, later named Most Valuable Player, brought Talandracas back into the game. As the clock ticked down the scoreboard read 10-9 in favour of Brittany Polo Club when Bensadon was offered an equalising opportunity penalty, however the ball just slipped wide of the posts and the win went to Brittany Polo Club. A grinning Diego Cavanagh commented, “We knew it was going to be a tough game and that the score would be close. We went into the last chukka with a three goal lead, which is always good at this stage of a game. But then Rufino Bensadon put on a real show, he was unstoppable when he went off dribbling the ball and scored three goals that made us having doubts. He’s an incredible player, full of talent, very quick, almost impossible to ride-off. He was on fire in that last chukka, he put Talandracas back in the game yet fortunately it ended well for us.” This was Jean-Francois Decaux’s first Coupe d’Or win, adding it to his British Gold Cup titles with La Bamba de Areco in 2009 and 2021.