Scotland win Boys Home Internationals

• Scotland win Boys Home Internationals for first time since 2006
• Fantastic performance sees off England in decider at Conwy GC
• “I’m speechless to be honest,” said captain Scott Knowles

Scotland tasted victory in the Boys Home Internationals for the first time since 2006 after a stunning win over defending champions England in a final day decider at Conwy GC.

The 11-man team saw off Ireland 10-5 on Tuesday and Wales 9.5-5.5 on Wednesday to set up a ‘winner takes it all’ clash with a strong England side, who had won the tournament in four of the last five years.

But it was to be Scotland’s day after they responded brilliantly from being down early in the morning foursomes, with captain Scott Knowles thrilled with his side’s efforts.

“The boys came out firing in one of the best performances at Boys level I have seen” – Scott Knowles

“I’m speechless to be honest,” said Knowles. “It was an absolutely fantastic performance from the boys. We looked to be down and out at one stage in the foursomes but somehow turned it around to go in 2.5-2.5 at lunch.

“In the singles the boys came out firing in one of the best performances at Boys level I have seen and the standard of golf was extremely high throughout all ten matches. The entire team have been great all week, the team spirit has been great and they’ve all supported each other very well.”

At one stage in the morning foursomes, it looked like Scotland would have to claw back a three-point deficit in the afternoon singles, but a great fightback saw Darren Howie and Sandy Scott halve their match, while Will Porter and Rory Franssen won 4&2 and Chris Curran and Murray Naysmith came from behind to win 2&1, meaning nothing separated the teams going into the singles.

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Sandy Scott contributed 4.5 points. Credit: Kevin Kirk.

In the first match, Cawder’s Calum Fyfe set the benchmark for his team-mates after defeating England’s star player Marco Penge, a three-time winner this season, 2&1. In-form Sandy Scott, whose recent win at the Scottish Boys Open Stroke Play Championship was his third in 40 days, then beat William Enefer 4&2 before England gained their first point in the singles after Rory Franssen suffered only his second defeat in six outings against Gian-Marco Petrozzi.

But for Scotland, the only players who fell to defeat were Kieran Cantley and Niall McMullen, with Darren Howie, whose brother Craig will be turning out in the Men’s Home Internationals next week, beating Jamie Li 2&1, while Andrew Thomson won on the last against Toby Briggs.

“We didn’t give it away, they took it away” – Derek Hughes

The final three matches all went in favour of the SGU boys, with Chris Curran and Will Porter both winning 2&1 to give them a total of five points each from a possible six, while Murray Naysmith rounded things off with a 3&1 victory over Harry Hall.

England captain Derek Hughes said: “Scotland were very good and deserving winners. They didn’t give us an inch today. At one stage it looked like we were going to do well in the foursomes but they came back at us.

“We didn’t give it away, they took it away. I feel sorry for the boys because they did their best, it just didn’t work out this week.”

Scotland taste Boys Home Internationals success :: Your thoughts

After Scotland clinched victory in the Boys Home Internationals, is junior golf in the country in great shape? Leave your thoughts in the ‘Comments’ section below.