The Sandton mink and manure belt will be alive with the sounds of popping champagne corks, scraping caviar dishes and the pounding of horses’ hooves when the second BMW International Polo Test rolls into town on Sunday.
For those tired of getting a carrot from the boys down under — and there must be many of these — head off to the Inanda Country Club to watch our lads take on the Australians.
The strong South African outfit, under the leadership of the evergreen Russell Watson, go into the final game of the two match series 1-0 up after they thumped the Wallabies 14-9 at their first encounter in Shongweni last Sunday.
With the rarer Highveld air and a good week of acclimatisation behind them the Aussies will not be so kind on the locals this week.
Had the visitors been more familiar with the conditions and their loaned mounts last week they may well have sneaked a win. The South Africans gave away far too many penalties and the Aussies where quick to take advantage of sloppy play, leading at the end of the first chukka.
Destroyer-in-chief for South Africa from then on was captain Watson, who rallied his troops and led by example. He slotted some fine shots and they where never bettered again.
‘Overall I was very happy with our performance,†said Watson, ‘but we obviously will be working on certain areas and will not underestimate the Australians’ ability to come back at us in the second Test,†he said.
Gillespie Armstrong was voted man of the match but it must have been hard to pick any individual from a solid team.
The final match takes place at Inanda at 3pm. A curtain-raiser between South African Schools and South African Juniors, vying for the BMW Polo Development Cup, precedes the Test at 11am.
In-between there is a full programme of entertainment for the public including carriage driving, pony rides and BMW car parades.
Tickets are R60 (R10 for children under 12) at the gates, which open at 9am. For more information call Tel: (011) 463 2743 or visit www.sapolo.org.za.