Following three weeks of tropical showers, including one total rain out, last Sunday provided perfect polo weather in paradise for the polo match between Island Hardware and Global Mortgage Group at the Anini Polo Field, with Island Hardware coming away
Following three weeks of tropical showers, including one total rain out, last Sunday provided perfect polo weather in paradise for the polo match between Island Hardware and Global Mortgage Group at the Anini Polo Field, with Island Hardware coming away with a 5-3 victory.
Local players John Elwin, Peter Cameron, and Scott Sims were joined by Hank Jacinto of Manila and Oahu, Max Secunda from the UK, and Ronnie and Rustan Tongg from Honolulu to provide a very fast paced, rugged afternoon of polo for the spectators.
Diego Lopez of Global Mortgage Group tossed in the ball to start the match, and immediately there was a swarm around the ball. Ronnie Tongg hardly got the ball out of the pack when he had to fend off an aggressive Secunda. Although Secunda controlled the ball momentarily, Tongg made one of his mosquito attacks and treated the fans to an eye-popping goal. Play moved up and down the field with hard charging, bumping, hooking, and fine stick work. It was Secunda who finally snatched the ball and made a coast to coast run and cracked the ball across the goal line to score for Global Mortgage.
Fairly rough play characterized the second chukker. The man-to-man coverage was awesome as was the riding off and stick work by both teams. After the toss in a penalty 5 was called against Global Mortgage. Ronnie Tongg took the penalty shot at 60 yards to a defended goal, and attempted to send the ball to Rustan. But it didn’t happen. Jacinto took over and charged down the field with the pack on his heels, and drove the ball between the goal posts.
Unfortunately, a horse’s shoulder struck Bill Clifford, the goal judge, and sent him flying. “It was like being hit by a stone wall,” Clifford said, as he headed to Wilcox Hospital for x-rays where it was determined he had sustained a shoulder injury. Play was stopped for several minutes; and when it resumed both teams were alive with aggressive defensive and offensive play that kept them constantly going in circles. The third chukker belonged to the Tonggs. Father and son pulled off well-executed plays that resulted in three smashing goals by Rustan Tongg which put Island Hardware in the lead.
In the final period, players and horses were all over the field, as they battled for victory. Sims, who is relatively new to Kaua‘i polo, brought the spectators to their feet cheering when he maneuvered through the traffic on his little Arabian stallion to put up a goal for Island Hardware. Seconds before the final horn Secunda managed to extricate the ball from a flurry of play, and just past midfield unleashed a very powerful offside forehand shot which traversed the remainder of the length of the field and went between the goal posts to tally the last goal of the day. What a shot! The final horn then sounded and it was Island Hardware 5, Global Mortgage Group 3.
Teams: Island Hardware: Peter Cameron, Scott Sims, Rustan Tongg, Ronnie Tongg. Global Mortgage Group: John Elwin, Max Secunda, Hank Jacinto. Umpire: Kamalu Sheldon. Polo continues at Anini Field next Sunday at 3:00 p.m. The public are welcome. Adults $10.00 per person; 12-18, $5.00 per person. Club matches are played on Fridays at 4:00 p.m.
