SHERBORNE’S Tom Plumb and his England teammates narrowly missed out on the chance to win the European Men’s Team Championship for a record twelfth time when they lost to hosts Sweden in the final at Llunghusen.

Tom Sloman, Alex Fitzpatrick and Ben Jones all claimed top-10 finishes as England finished second behind Ireland in the 36-hole strokeplay qualifier. They went on to defeat both Wales and Scotland 4-3 before losing 4½-2½ to the hosts in a keenly contested final in which all but one of the games went to the 17th at least.

The English team comprising Sloman, Fitzpatrick, Jones, Plumb, Harry Hall and Matty Lamb were the first to put a point on the board when Sloman and Plumb recorded their third foursomes win of the tournament with a 2&1 win over Ludvig Aberg and Christoffer Palsson.

But David Nyfjall and Vincent Norrman ensured the scoreline was level at lunch with a 4&3 victory over Fitzpatrick and Lamb.

In the afternoon Hall made it three out of three in the singles with a 2&1 victory over Norrman and Plumb also halved with Nyfjall but that was not quite enough to see the team over the line.

The result means that England have won three silver medals in a row having also achieved that feat in Austria in 2017 and then again in Germany 12 months later.

England ended the European Ladies’ Team Championship on a high in beating Scotland 3-2 to claim fifth at Is Molas, Sardinia.

The team made up of Lianna Bailey, Annabell Fuller, Alice Hewson, Lily May Humphrey and Emily Toy lost the chance of collecting a medal when they were beaten 5½-1½ by Sweden in the opening round of match play but then defeated Denmark 3½-1½ before rounding the championship out with a win over the Scots.

The event was won by Sweden who beat Spain 5-2 in the final.

There was also a fifth-place finish for England at the European Boys’ Team Championship where hosts France won in Chantilly.

England, represented by Barclay Brown, Conor Gough, Max Hopkins, Joe Pagdin, Ben Schmidt and Robin Williams, lost 4-3 to Ireland in the opening round of matchplay but then defeated Italy 3½-1½ before beating Spain by the same scoreline.

The English team comprising of Jessica Baker, Rosie Belsham, Ellie Gower, Charlotte Heath, Euphemie Rhodes and Caitlin Whitehead finished fifth in qualifying at the European Girls’ Team Championship at Parador El Saler in Spain but then lost 4-3 to Spain, 3-2 to The Netherlands and 3½-1½ to Sweden. The event was won for the first time by Denmark who beat Spain in the final.

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