As the 2005 Samsung Super League series moves to Dublin, Ireland, next Friday the home side lie last on the leaderboard despite a gallant effort in Hickstead last week.
The Dutch are only 0.5 points ahead of them while the Belgians have just a single-point advantage. So much could change after this sixth leg of the series, which is drawing to an exciting climax.
Following last Friday''s bruising encounter at the British fixture, it is the Germans who hold pole position, and they are likely to prove formidable opponents once again this week as exactly the same squad has been called into action. Ulrich Kirchhoff, Thomas Muhlbauer, Alois Pollmann-Schweckhorst and Rene Tebbel showed great resolve when refusing to be intimidated by the tough Hickstead track and should find the Dublin arena to their liking.
In an unusual move, course designer Bob Ellis lowered two fences in the second round last Friday when the yielding ground conditions and big, difficult obstacles created a competition that was a thrill-a-minute for the spectators but a little too exciting for some of the competitors. The French withdrew after the elimination of their first runner, Philippe Rozier, and a cricket score for new recruit Nathalie Paillot, but their fellow-countryman Frederic Cottier will be designing the international tracks at this week''s show, so perhaps they will be feeling more at home.
Cottier, who is 51 years old and from Neuilly sur Seine, has an interesting curriculum vitae. French national show jumping champion in 1980, he competed on 25 winning Nations Cup teams and at both the Los Angeles and Seoul Olympic Games. He is also a legal expert on equestrian matters for the Versailles Appeal Court; the Vice Mayor of Poingy la Foret, a town of about 1,000 inhabitants 50 kilometers south of Paris; an author and the father of two children.
Paillot and Rozier step bravely out again this week to fly the French flag, along with Pierre Jarry, Stefan Lafouge and Jean-Marc Nicolas, but French Chef d''Equipe Jean-Maurice Bonneau will be expecting greater things. Lying fifth going into this round, there is a deficit of 10.5 points between France and Germany at the top of the order.
The United States lies second, just 2.5 points behind the leaders, and they have had to change their line-up after McLain Ward broke his collarbone last Friday. The penultimate double of Hickstead ditches caused plenty of heart-stopping moments and Ward''s crashing fall there gives Jeffrey Welles an opportunity to show what he can do when he steps into the breach this Friday alongside Laura Kraut, Beezie Madden and Kimberly Prince. Defeated by only one fault last week, the Americans will be giving the Germans plenty to think about again this time out.
Lying third on the leaderboard, five points adrift of the U.S., Britain fields an almost all-Whitaker line-up with brothers Michael and John joined by John''s son Robert while Nick Skelton and William Funnell have also been selected. There is always great rivalry between the Irish and British at the Dublin Horse Show.
The Swiss send their Hickstead side out again. Lying fourth on the league table, they are only 0.5 points behind the British, but Chef d''Equipe Rolf Theiler will be looking for a better end-result than the one he got last week when they finished with a colossal 52 faults on the board after Sprunger fell victim to the dreaded ditches. Despite the presence of plenty more ditches and water at Dublin, Sprunger has been called up again alongside Beat Mandli, Niklaus Schurtenberger and Pius Schwizer.
With Jos Lansink and Gregory Wathelet lining out this week, the Belgian side looks very strong indeed. Lansink and his lovely grey stallion, Cumano, came close to an individual medal on the final day of the European Championships in San Patrignano just two