Yorkshire duo Poppleton and Wath picked by R&A for GB & Ire duty in St Andrews Trophy

England, silver medallists at the European men's amateur team championship for the second year in a row, including David Hague (Malton & Norton), third left, and Nick Poppleton (Wath) second right.

The pair collected silver medals at the weekend as England were beaten in the final of the European Amateur Men’s Team Championship in Berlin.

A nine-player team comprising six Englishmen and three players from Ireland has been named for the St Andrews Trophy match.

Scotland’s Craig Watson will continue as captain of GB&I following the 12½-12½ tie in the last match, played at Prince’s in Kent in 2016.

“We have selected a talented and exciting team for this match knowing that the Continent of Europe players will be extremely strong.” said Watson.

The St Andrews Trophy was first played in 1956 over the West Course at Wentworth when the European Golf Association accepted an invitation from the R&A to put forward a team.

The GB & Ire team won the inaugural match and it was not until 1974 that the Continent of Europe won for the first time.

The matches have been closely contested in recent years and the Continent of Europe won the matches at Castelconturbia in Italy in 2010 and Portmarnock in 2012 with GB & Ire securing victory at Barsebäck in 2014.

The GB & Ire team is selected by the R&A and the Continent of Europe side by the European Golf Association

In the European championships final at the weekend, Finland came out on top against England, winning 5-2 at Golf Club Bad Saarow to leave England as runners-up for the second year in succession.

England, who had finished second in the stroke play qualifying - losing out on the top spot on countback to Sweden - had beaten France and Denmark to claim their place in the final.

Finland, who gained promotion last year by winning the Division 2 Championship, had been the final one of the eight qualifiers.

England, who were hoping to annex a record 12th title, knew they faced an uphill struggle after losing both morning foursomes to Finland, when Poppleton and Hague succumbed 5&4.

However, the eventual scoreline does not reflect the hard battle waged by England in the singles in which Hague halved the anchor match.

Denmark defeated hosts Germany 5-2 in the match for third place and took home the bronze medals.

The England women’s team lost the European crown they had held for the last two years. They were knocked out of the medal race in the quarter-finals at Murhof, in Austria, losing 4.5-2.5 to Denmark.

The team picked themselves up to beat Ireland 3.5-1.5 in their next match, but lost their final match against Germany 3.5-1.5 as the title went to Sweden.

The girls’ and boys’ teams were also knocked out of the medals in their quarter-finals.

The girls, playing at Forsgårdens, in Sweden, were beaten 4-3 by Spain, but went on to win their remaining matches, beating Demark 3.5-1.5 and Germany 4-1. The championship was won by Italy.

The boys' team which included Hallamshire's Barclay Brown - playing at Kaskada Brno Golf Resort, in Czech Republic, lost to Switzerland 4-3 in the quarters, but also went on to win their remaining matches.

They defeated Ireland 4.5-0.5 and the Czech Republic 3.5-1.5. Spain won the championship.