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Great Britain and Ireland retained the Vivendi Seve Trophy, yet it was not as comfortable as the result might suggest after a spirited fight-back from the Continental Europe team.Paul McGinley's players had a five point advantage going into the final day's play at St Nom-La-Breteche and needed only three points to secure the trophy for a sixth consecutive year.
However, European captain Jean Van De Velde warned that his side would not give up hope of winning the tournament for the first time since 2000.
They made an impressive start to the singles matches by winning the first five matches that wiped-out Great Britain and Ireland's lead.
Thomas Bjorn started the comeback when he came from three down to beat World No.2 Lee Westwood 2 and 1.
Anders Hansen then earned a one-up win over KLM Open winner Simon Dyson before Francesco Molinari beat Jamie Donaldson 4 and 3.
The tide continued to turn against Great Britain and Ireland as Alex Noren beat Robert Rock 4 and 3 before Miguel Angel Jimenez thrashed Open Champion Darren Clarke 4 and 2.
With the score level, it was England's David Horsey who stopped the rot with a half in his match with Nicolas Colsaerts.
Scott Jamieson then notched a point thanks to a one-up win over Pablo Larrazábal, despite a late charge from Spaniard.
Ian Poulter then added a second point with his one-up victory over Italian Matteo Manassero as Great Britain started to tighten their grip on the trophy once more.
Mark Foster made sure of the victory when he won his match over Raphael Jacquelin before Ross Fisher took a half off Peter Hanson in the final match.
McGinley said: "Lucky I had the team well balanced out, and had not just experience but guys in form balanced throughout the team, so they came through in the end.
"Scott Jamieson's match was huge, that kind of turned the tide in our favour. I actually focused mostly on Scott's game, I walked every shot with him from the 14th. I knew how pivotal that match was going to be and he was brilliant.
"I wanted Scott to keep playing pretty conservatively coming in there because it was difficult conditions, and he did exactly as I said.
"I'm so proud of the way he's come through this week, and he's just one guy. David Horsey as well, a huge half point there.
"I get a huge sense of satisfaction seeing someone like Scott or David coming though the way they did. Mark Foster as well, it was pivotal that his game stayed one up, that it stayed in the red or it stayed in the green and it never got into the blue, and he did that. And of course Ross Fisher was a rock at the end."
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Source: http://www.fanhouse.co.uk/2011/09/19/great-britain-and-ireland-beat-continental-europe-15-to-12-to/
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