THE opening shots were fired in what is shaping up to be an epic battle between Scotland and England as the Commonwealth Games artistic gymnastics team competition got under way at The Hydro in Glasgow.

The Scottish men proved their mettle to place second at the halfway stage after the first three apparatus - floor, pommel horse and rings - scoring 127.240 as England topped the opening day rankings with 133.806.

Canada could yet spoil the party and are sitting in third with 125.380, although it is worth bearing in mind Scotland still have what are arguably their strongest pieces of apparatus, the parallel bars and vault, to come.

There were a few first day jitters, not least from Scotland's Frank Baines who fell off the pommel horse and stumbled on floor, for which the adoring partisan crowd, if not the judges, forgave him.

Predictably, England dominated on the pommel horse with reigning European champion Max Whitlock posting 15.733 and Olympic silver medallist Louis Smith 15.700 to bolster their team's campaign for the overall gold.

Scotland's Daniel Keatings, himself a former European champion on pommel horse, wasn't too far behind them with a respectable 14.533. With a high start value he has the potential to nudge his way into the medals when the individual apparatus finals are contested on Thursday. His 14.966 on floor should place him in contention on that piece too.

Daniel Purvis, meanwhile, claimed his spot in the rings final with a strong 14.700 where he will face the two-pronged threat of Canada's Scott Morgan and Kevin Lytwyn who posted 15.200 and 14.866 respectively. He also managed to make it into the pommel horse final, qualifying in seventh place with 13.600.

But there was disappointment too after a major error. On one of his tumbling passes on floor he fell forward, put a hand down and his score dipped to 13.900 which means he will now miss out on a final in traditionally his strongest piece.

At the halfway stage Keatings looks like the best chance of a place in the individual apparatus final with 43.399, although Purvis and Baines are still in contention with 42.200 and 41.641 respectively. Only two gymnasts from each nation qualify.

Adam Cox and Liam Davie, the other two team members, will prove vital as Scotland contest the vault, parallel bars and high bar today.

With head coach Paul Hall keen that his charges are rested up ahead there was no opportunity for any post-competition analysis with the gymnasts themselves. Hall, however, was in upbeat mood.

"Second's good," he said. "We're just happy that we got a safe performance today and we've got to make sure we come back and improve on that. There were a few little errors but the guys performed very securely, so I'm just hoping they do a good job."

He admitted that nerves did play a part in some of the routines not being as polished as was hoped. "It's a big occasion for these guys," he said. "They've trained hard and worked well. Competition is competition. There were mistakes from quite a few steady gymnasts, but that is normal in competition.

"It's no given. There's some strong gymnasts and nations here - Wales, Canada, Australia - so it's going to be quite a fight."

Hall said that the format of the competition, split over yesterday and today, provided an additional challenge. "It's an unusual format for us over two days," he said. "Normally we're doing six apparatus so it feels strange to go out after half the competition. It's like half-time and there's 24 hours to have the team talk."

With 6.566 points separating the top-placed two, barring catastrophe the gold is arguably there for taking by England but the plucky Scots contingent is unlikely to go down without a fight. Until now the highest placed finish by the Scottish men in a Commonwealth Games was fourth, a result they achieved in Manchester in 2002 and repeated in Melbourne four years later.

While the Scots were whisked away to rest up England's Smith, re-emerging from his post-London 2012 retirement, had lost none of his famed showmanship.

"I'm surprised I haven't got more grey hairs," he said, referring to his comeback. "It's been a tough few months work, trying to get fit, shed all the weight and get my levels back and learn more and difficult skills. But job half-done."

The Scottish women sit in sixth after two pieces of apparatus with a score of 77.497, while England currently occupy the gold medal position with 85.390 ahead of Australia and Wales.

Scotland's Emma White qualified for the women's vault final in eighth place with 13.733 while her compatriot Amy Regan finished in the heartbreaking position of ninth, meaning her score of 13.683 won't be enough to make the apparatus finals on Thursday.

Georgia Rose Brown of Australia sits at the top of the women's individual all-around standings with 28.216 with an English 2-3 with Ruby Harrold on 28.133 and Claudia Fragapane 27.974. White and Regan are presently in 11th and 16th respectively with 26.499 and 25.732 apiece.