Emmet, Luca and Morgan won in Rouen
The 14th edition of the legendary Epiphanie took place last weekend in Rouen. 16 teams gathered in cold weather beside the river Seine to vie for glory and have their names etched upon the hallowed Epiphanie trophy.
In the morning group, Luca opened the tournament scoring the only goal in a 1-0 victory over Crank Cweens(Saul, Mya, George). Luca’s team Rosebud were favourites to win the tournament, and the first day saw them finding the rhythm they’d need to make it through the final. They ended up finishing the day with a perfect record of 5 wins followed by Bella (Woods, Quentin, Clement) who lost only to Rosebud. The afternoon group saw second favourites Almas (Alejandro, Mass, Bouchard) unbeaten, with a just a tie to Panameska (Rrose, Hugo, Eliska) keeping them from matching Rosebud’s performance on the first day.
On Saturday night, the legendary Epiphanie party took place. Epiphanie tradition dictates that each team must bring a present which will be selected in anonymity by teams in order of their first day ranking. Presents included engraved silver platters, regal undergarments and a sundry of conserves hidden within a traffic cone. Following the distribution of gifts, music played and players danced.
Sunday proceeded with standard double elimination format. An shocking early exit befell Panameska, ranked 4th after day one, who were unlucky to be drawn two challenging match ups. Despite a wonderful late backhand goal from Eliska, they were ultimately eliminated by Ytreza (Elodie, Quentin, Thomas). Angel Face (Remy, Lisa, Vincent) played very well to defeat knock Bella into the loser’s bracket, until being knocked down themselves by eventual finalists Almas.
Almas and Rosebud met for the first time in the winners bracket. Bouchard and Mass opened the scoring to make it 1-0, but Emmet was able to equalise shortly after with a half court rip. Moments later he scored an almost identical goal to give Rosebud the lead. Luca scored smart shot to make the final score 3-1.
In the loosers Bracket Almas played against AJA(Alphonse, Julien, Romain). Mass missed an open goal, in the next moment Bouchard scored the 1:0. Then Julian equalized to 1:1. Mass brought his team into lead again by shooting a full court big shot on empty net. Mass and Bouchard showed good passing game but where not able to defend a nice goal from Romain to make it 2:2. After a timeout there was a long golden goal. Of course it was scoring monster bouchard who had a good look on Julien in the goal and brought his team to the final by winning with 3:2
The Final was about to happen when Morgan, Emmet, Luca, Mass, Alejandro and Bouchard entered the court, what a lineup!
There was a big chance missed by Mass, who got a pass from Bouchard on the left side. Luca got the rebound and played a scoop pass to Emmet, who went for the counter attack. He was completely free in front of Alejandro and scored to make it 1:0. Next it was Bouchard to score and make it 1:1. After a beautiful pass from Morgan, Luca was able to convert it into a nice goal which secured the 2:1 lead. This was also the final score, making Rosebud the winners of this years Epiphanie. Luca is the Person winning this prestigious tournament for the most times. He won it 6 times!
Oscar, rising star from Lyon, said in an interview with BPN the following about his weekend in Rouen:” It was my first time playing in Rouen, and I’d be happy to come back. The atmosphere was great, and the games were fun and competitive.I would have liked the matches to be a bit longer, but in the end, it wasn’t so bad that the tournament finished early. My team was really happy with how much we’ve improved, and it was nice to hear other players notice it too. I also got some great feedback about my game, which felt really good. It was a solid weekend of polo, and I hope Rouen keeps hosting events like this! Lot of love to the bike polo family”.
Sunday was streamed on YT by DownOver, go watch!
Winners History:
2025: Morgan, Luca, Emmet
2024: Morgan, Bouchard, Dodi
2023: Morgan, Luca, Dodi
2020: Theo, Will, Dani
2019: Dani, Bouchard, Luca
2018: Madej, Pajac, Szemek
2017: Luca, David, Dodi
2016: Greg, Emmet, Charles
2015: Will, Polo, Luca
2014: Will, Josh, Luca
2013: Woods, Max, Quentin
2012: Woods, Max, Quentin
2011: Clement, Quentin, Johan
2010: Hugo, Pierre, Eduardo