England’s men’s team – featuring Yorkshiremen Tom Osborne and Jake Sowden – won their biennial international match against France 13-11 at Golf de Chantilly.
A storming 8-4 win on Saturday, including a 4-0 clean sweep in the morning foursomes, left England requiring just 4.5 points from the 12 available on Sunday.
They went down 2.5-1.5 in the foursomes, meaning France needed to win six of the eight afternoon singles matches to turn the contest around, but the hosts could only win 4.5 as England regained the trophy.
The England team has won 27 of the 33 matches between the sides, including back-to-back wins on French soil following their victory at Saint-Nom-la-Breteche in 2022.
Jamie Van Wyk was England’s star player, going unbeaten in all four matches and winning three of them. Lindrick-based Tom picked up a foursomes win on Saturday along with a half point in Sunday’s foursomes and a win in the final singles session. Jake (The Oaks) also won his Saturday foursomes before going on to win his singles match on Saturday and earn half a point in Sunday’s singles.
For the full results, click here.
England Golf men’s performance manager Ben Gorvett said: “We faced a strong French team in a historic match, at a fantastic venue, and to come away with the trophy is a testament to the quality that our players possess. It was a battle out there. Winning the Saturday foursomes 4-0 gave us a great platform but we knew the French team would come out fighting in every session after that, and they did!
“The resilience and grit our players showed on Saturday afternoon and Sunday afternoon is something they should be immensely proud of. They dug deep and they played hard for the rose, for each other, and for our travelling support group.
“We were fortunate to have a world-class coach in Rob Watts – and our performance director [Nigel Edwards], president and CEO – providing vital support to me and the players during this victory, and this win enables us to keep our momentum moving forward.”
