Enigma patron Wirth scores golden goal in Queen’s Cup
By Herbert Spencer
French patron Jerome Wirth scored the golden goal to give his Enigma team their 8-7 win over Richard Mille, a new side fielded by Prince Bahar Jefri of Brunei, on the first day of the Harcourt Development Queen’s Cup at Guards Polo Club.
Wirth’s chance came in the seventh, sudden death chukka after Richard Mille’s 10-goaler Pablo MacDonough unluckily lost the head of his stick. In a goalmouth scrum, Wirth avoided a challenge by the disadvantaged MacDonough and punched in the winner.
The match should have been a high-goal duel between the Argentine 10-goalers MacDonough who spearheaded Richard Mille and Juan Martin Nero playing for Enigma. But surprisingly both these stars fluffed a number of their shots early in the game.
Richard Mille stayed ahead for four chukkas until Enigma equalised in the fifth and took their first lead. The game was then tied up twice before MacDonough embarrassingly hit a 30-yard penalty shot wide late in the sixth chukka with the score tied 7-7, pushing the match into extra time.
In an earlier match at Brooksfield, Cowdray Park Polo Club, Adrian Kirby’s 1870 defeated Karam Thapar’s Aravali 13-9. There are 16 teams in the 17-22 goal Queen’s Cup tournament that runs to 12 June.