AS we went to press yesterday (Friday) evening, the team show jumping final at the FEI World Equestrian Games was getting underway in Tryon, North Carolina.

Following a tough day of competition in Thursday’s second qualifier, the Irish team of Shane Sweetnam, Shane Breen, Paul O’Shea and Cian O’Connor managed to finish in sixth place, with the top 10 teams progressing to last night’s round.

Sweetnam finished with nine faults aboard Chaqui Z, before Breen and Ipswich van de Wolfsakker clocked up 14 faults when having a foot in the water and two fences on the floor, plus two time faults.

O’Shea, aboard Skara Glen’s Machu Picchu, also finished with two fences on the floor, before anchorman O’Connor pulled off a vital clear with Good Luck. O’Connor round was one of only five (4%) without fault from a startlist of 122 riders. A further four managed to leave all the fences standing but picked up a single time penalty.

The majority of riders were caught out down the final line – a triple bar with an option of five or six strides to a double with a vertical in and a very short distance to a wide oxer coming out. The water fence, coming after a tall vertical with a distance of seven or eight strides, also proved influential.

Speaking afterwards, high performance manager Rodrigo Pessoa said: “Half way through this it looked a little bit dodgy, but we had some mediocre rounds but so did everyone else because it was really a tough tough test today. That’s why we have an anchor (Cian O’Connor) who is a really solid rider with a solid horse.”

Pessoa added that team spirit is high within the group, who are all living together this week. “The spirit of the troop is very good, we’ve been very close. They are fighters and I have faith in them.”

Tipperary course designer Alan Wade has been receiving high praise for his clever tracks in Tryon, and after Thursday’s tough test Pessoa gave his thoughts. “In all fairness I think that the course was good. That last line is a readability test. It’s easier to say afterwards now, but I would have changed that line with the triple (combination, coming at fence four). To have the difficult line in the beginning of the course and have the triple at the end.

“I think the heat today really played a role on those lines, if they were inverted maybe we would have seen something a little different.”

Switzerland were out in the lead with less than a fence in hand ahead of the home nation of the USA. Germany were close behind. Cian O’Connor was lying in fifth place individually after Thursday’s performance.

The individual final takes place tomorrow (Sunday) at 2.45pm Irish time and is available to watch live on FEI TV.

(For results from last night’s team final and full coverage from WEG 2018 see www.theirishfield.ie)