Scott Knowles' side had suffered an early blow to morale when Leven's Brian Soutar, who injured his ankle during Tuesday's practice round, was ruled out of the opening day's action, but they showed plenty of spirit to defeat the Welsh 9-6.

Scott Knowles’ side had suffered an early blow to morale when Leven’s Brian Soutar, who injured his ankle during Tuesday’s practice round, was ruled out of the opening day’s action, but they showed plenty of spirit to defeat the Welsh 9-6.

Wales, winners of the titleback in 2002, began themorning session of foursomes with purpose and were up in four of the five tiesthrough nine holes.

They picked up 2.5 points from the first three matches but wins in the lower order for the Scottish pairings of Kris Nicol and Greg Paterson, and James White and Philip McLean ensured the contest was poised at 2.5-2.5 heading into the 10 singles.

Michael Stewart lost by one hole in the top tie against Jason Shufflebotham, but Scottish champion David Law’s three and two victory over his Welsh counterpart Alastair Jones kick-started a telling thrust. James Byrne, Paterson and Nicol won the next three matches.

Despite five and four defeats for White and the Kirkhill debutant Paul Shields, Scotland eased home with a half-point from new recruit Graeme Robertson and further wins for McLean and Ross Kellett. In the day’s other fixture, host nation Ireland earned a battling 8-7 victory over the defending champions England.

The Irish, who last won the title at Muirfield in 2008, claimed victory as Paul Dunne and Niall Gorey both picked up a half-point from the final two singles ties to dent England’s hopes of a third successive Raymond Trophy.