hangovers we were starting to accept as normal. So the plan was to cook a really good breakfast and down as many fluids as we could before we had to leave for the match.


in the strange mood for eating a lot of meat whilst in America and that Friday he managed to eat a large starter of chicken wings and then a full-on, large plate of prawns and ribs. By about 4pm that afternoon Ben was convinced he had something called the ‘Meat Sweats’ and had eaten enough for the time being.


That evening we were very kindly invited to a restaurant for dinner with one of the sponsors for the match we were to play the next day. Wherever we went we were encouraged to promote the game with the flyers, so a dinner outing meant descending on nearby tables in order to achieve the most enthusiastic support for our team. To add to Ben’s meat issues he then went and ordered the largest steak on the menu for his main course and was then convinced he had ‘meat poisoning’, which doesn’t sound very scientific but just the sound of it is worrying. The rest of the night was spent in local Newport bars, losing a contest between us and the town’s supply of alcohol.


Day 3 Saturday (The Big Day) One advantage of not following the boys into town was that Annie and Nicholas were able to be bright and cheery the next day and watch us slowly emerge from the closed curtains that hide the


The London Polo Club


As we arrived at the Newport Polo Club grounds we began to see what a serious event this was. There were literally thousands of people all set up around the field with picnics and gazebos ready to see some polo. The game got underway after the national anthems were played and the Americans managed to peel their clenched fists from their chests. Due to previous matches played at Newport I think we were under a false sense of security that we had the confidence to win. By half time we were down by several goals and were realising that the Americans had a better technique of playing on this smaller and bouncy field. We changed positions even though I had heard that the Chairman only ever plays at back and couldn’t be convinced otherwise, but it was he who volunteered to change up to the Number 1 position and push me to the back. Benjie and Ben worked much harder in the second half and the Chairman scored a fantastic goal. We were still a few down with only a chukka and a bit to go, so we started playing a smarter game and managed to get some valuable penalties awarded and scored. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be. After 6 chukkas we were still down by 1 when the final bell went.


It was a great fun match and the atmosphere was incredible as we got to ‘High 5’ all the spectators as they lined up around the pitch. Team USA deserved the win. They played hard and caught us napping a few times. The next shock was when we went to the presentation. Now I know that some of us are celebrities in our own way but this was


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