England kept their record of winning the Seniors Home Internationals every time it has been held in Wales, though the home team enjoyed one of their best ever finishes in second.
It came down to a winner-takes-all clash between England and Wales on the final day at Machynys golf club in Llanelli, most of the contests were close for a long time before the English team finished strongly to take the title.
Both had beaten last year’s champions Ireland and also Scotland over the first two days. When Wales beat the Irish on the opening day it was a first victory in the competition for four years after a series of last place finishes.
“Being runners-up is huge for us,” admitted Wales captain Richard Hendicott. “We have been fourth for a number of years, so second is a huge step forward and shows the team what can be done.
“Beating Ireland was fantastic. We got a good start in the foursomes and then carried that through into the singles.
“Then we lost the morning foursomes 3-0 to Scotland, the current European champions, but we won the afternoon singles 5-1 to come back to win.
“Then we came up against a very good England team and maybe we had left our best golf out on the course over the first two days.
“Machynys was in excellent condition, while all the volunteers and staff looked after us extremely well. It was the ideal location for a match play competition.”
Wales were bolstered by debutantes Colin Jones (West Sussex, Nick Grimmitt (Wenvoe Castle) and Michael Gwyther (Morlais Castle) completing the team with Andrew Williams (Newport), Nigel Evans (St Mellons), Glyn Rees (Fleetwood) and Paul Bloomfield (Kingsdown).
The comeback against Scotland was sealed when Gwyther and Williams, playing the final two matches, both had a one hole lead going up the 18th and were able to hold on to win in a thrilling finish.
England captain Roy Smethurst was delighted with the overall victory. “I don’t know if there’s something in the water in Wales or the air, but this is the fourth time the event has been played here and we have won every time so we always seem to play well in Wales,” he said.
“It was a great team effort throughout, tough victories over Scotland and then Ireland meant we came up against Wales in a winner-takes-all situation.
“A few years ago we faced Wales in the final match needing to win to take the title and we failed to do that then, so with memories of that we were really geared up to avoid history repeating itself.
“We did well in the morning foursomes so we just needed two wins from the singles, at the halfway stage it was not clear if we were in front as most matches were close but then we came good on the back nine and we could really enjoy it.
“Quite a few of the team had played here at Machynys in the British Seniors in 2012 but it was noticeable in four years how much the course has improved and matured.
“I would also congratulate the Golf Union of Wales for the way they set up the course which was very sporting and fair.”
Golf Union of Wales championships manager David Wilson added, “It was a good performance by the Wales team on home ground, but also the Machynys club, staff and volunteers were all a major part of a successful week.
“We are also hugely indebted to Castell Howell, whose sponsorship was very important in terms of making the week go well.”