Golf: Britain and Ireland closed in on a sixth consecutive win in the Seve Trophy as they dominated the Continental European team on Saturday to lead 11.5-to 6.5 going into the singles.
Englishman Simon Dyson maintained his form when he partnered Ian Poulter to a 3 & 1 victory in the afternoon foursomes against Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal and Sweden's Alex Noren having scored a point in the morning greensomes playing alongside Welshman Jamie Donaldson.
Britain and Ireland won the foursomes 2.5 to 1.5 and the greensomes 3.5 to 0.5 and now need just three points from Sunday's 10 singles at the St Nom la Breteche course.
Europe have only one the tournament once -- on its inaugural occasion in 2000 -- and Jean Van de Velde's team face a huge task if they are to stop their losing run.
World number two Lee Westwood and fellow Englishman David Horsey were rarely troubled by Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin and Belgium's Nicolas Colsaerts as they coasted to a 4 & 3 foursomes victory.
Donaldson is the only other unbeaten player but the Welshman's missed four-footer on the last cost him and Englishman Robert Rock a full point as their closing bogey left them with only a half against Italian pairing Francesco Molinari and Matteo Manassero.
"I'm absolutely delighted with our performances today," Briatin and Ireland captain Paul McGinley told reporters. "We were really up for it all day, concentrated, focused and we got the job done. I'm still erring on the side of caution, though, because the whole job's not done yet."
Van de Velde's only ray of light in the afternoon gloom was a 3 & 2 success for in-form Thomas Bjorn and fellow Dane Anders Hansen over Englishmen Ross Fisher and Mark Foster.
"I still think it was a lot tighter than it looks," he said. "We ran into a bit of a slump and lost momentum and Paul's pairings worked like clockwork. But we start fresh tomorrow and you never know."
Britain and Ireland turned up the heat in the greensomes with some red-hot putting.
With the greens responding to sonar-like putting, 12-footers became commonplace and it took something spectacular to wrench a hole from the opposition.
Dutch Open champion Dyson's 40-footer stunner on the 14th broke the deadlock against Italian Matteo Manassero and Belgium Nicolas Colsaerts, leading to a 2 & 1 success for the Britons.
Swedes Peter Hanson and Alex Noren included three 30-footers in their repertoire. Englishman David Horsey's brilliant approach to just four feet for British Open partner Darren Clarke to hole out for eagle on the 17th looked to have won it. Ryder Cup man Hanson, though, made it a half with a 15-footer for birdie on 18.
Bjorn was also on song with the putter but it was not enough to prevent the Dane and French partner Jacquelin going under 2 & 1 to English pairing Poulter and Fisher.
Westwood and tour rookie Scott Jamieson then added to the away team's haul, overcoming Spaniards Miguel-Angel Jimenez and Larrazabal 4 & 3.
