England fancy their chance of toppling

Scotland in next week's internationals

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England will seek to regain the Raymond Trophy when the Home Internationals get underway at Hillside Golf Club, Southport, next week (Wednesday to Friday, August 26 to 28).
But with seven Walker Cup players in their line-up, they will be targeted by the three other nations. In fact, all ten Walker Cup men who will face the amateurs of the United States at Merion next month, will be in action at Hillside when Ireland will defend the trophy they won at Muirfield last year.
England include four new caps - Stiggy Hodgson (Sunningdale, Surrey), Matthew Nixon (Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire), Chris Paisley (Stocksfield, Northumberland) and James Robinson (Southport & Ainsdale, Lancashire) – in an otherwise experienced side containing seven of the side that finished third last year.
Overall, the England record this year is spectacular. Having beaten Spain and Australia and won the European Nations Cup, the only slight blemish came in the final of the European men’s team Championships at Conwy in Wales when they lost to Scotland.
So England captain Colin Edwards will be looking to extend that record. “We have had a really good year with our teams and some great individual performances. But winning back the title won’t be easy,” he said. “I’m really excited about the week. We have four new faces and to have seven Walker Cup players in our side is unbelievable. “That means the expectations are higher than before so meeting us will be everyone’s big game. We play Scotland on the first day and having lost to them in the European final adds that extra edge. But this time there are ten players in action rather than six.”
Scotland come to Hillside as World and European Champions and their team contains two Walker Cup players in Gavin Dear and Wallace Booth, while Niall Kearney, winner of the Brabazon Trophy at Moortown in May, is in the Irish line-up.
Admission is free to the event. For those unable to attend, scoring, championship commentary and news updates are available on the Home Internationals website, www.homeinternationals.org.
Teams:
ENGLAND
Jamie Abbott (Fynn Valley) Tommy Fleetwood (Formby Hall) Luke Goddard (Hendon) Matt Haines (Rochester & Cobham) Stiggy Hodgson (Sunningdale) Sam Hutsby (Liphook) Farren Keenan (Sunningdale) Matthew Nixon (Ashton-under-Lyne) Chris Paisley (Stocksfield) James Robinson (Southport & Ainsdale) Dale Whitnell (Five Lakes)
IRELAND
Robert Cannon (Laytown & Bettystown) Cian Curley (Newlands) Paul Cutler (Portstewart) Connor Doran (Banbridge) Alan Dunbar (Rathmore) Niall Kearney (Royal Dublin) Dara Lernihan (Castle) Pat Murray (Limerick) Kelan McDonagh (Athlone) Paul O’Kane (Moyola Park) Simon Ward (Co Louth)
SCOTLAND
Glenn Campbell (Blairgowrie) Steven McEwan (Caprington) Michael Stewart (Troon Welbeck) Ross Kellett (Colville Park) Gavin Dear (Murrayshall) Keir McNicoll (Carnoustie) James Byrne (Banchory) Paul O’Hara (Colville Park) David Law (Hazlehead) Wallace Booth (Comrie) James White (Lundin).
WALES
Nigel Edwards (Whitchurch) Rhys Enoch (Truro) Oliver Farr (Ludlow) James Frazer (Pennard) Richard Hooper (Neath) Alistair Jones (Radyr) Rhys Pugh (Vale of Glamorgan) Adam Runcie (Abergele) Luke Thomas (Vale of Glamorgan) Joe Vickery (Newport) Ben Westgate (Trevose) -