We return to the British Isles this week for the Junior Camrose Trophy. This is the competition for Under-26 Teams from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Northern Ireland. One country fields a second team on a rotating basis to even up the numbers, and this year it is the turn of the Scots.

Over the course of the three-day weekend, each team will play two 16-board matches against each of the other teams.

As usual, we begin with some problems. Firstly, with only your opponents vulnerable, you are West holding:

What action, if any, do you take?

Next, with only your side vulnerable, you are sitting in the North seat with:

What do you bid?

Finally, with neither side vulnerable, you hold in the South seat:

What is your plan?

While you consider those, we start early in the opening round with the meeting of ENGLAND and WALES.

The son of two former England international players, Daniel Winter (left) made his international debut as a member of the England Under-16 team at the 2015 European Championships. He has since twice collected bronze medals from the Youngsters Teams at European Championships, in 2017 and 2019.

For the Welsh, Joseph Bentley reopened with a double after Winter’s 3♠ opening was passed around to him. He then had to answer the first of the problems above following James Brindles’s 4♦ response.

Once he elected to raise to 5♦, there were two pieces of good news for the Welsh. Firstly, neither of the English players could find a double. Secondly, as they were non-vulnerable, undertricks were only 50 each. Guessing everything right would have allowed declarer to get out for two down, but Brindle manage to make only seven tricks. N/S +200. A winning trump guess would allow E/W to make 5♣, but how to get there? Would you have bid 4♣ or 4♦ in response to partner’s takeout double on the East hand? Does it really make a difference where the king is located?

Imogen La Chapelle (right) began her international career at the 2019 World Youth Championships. She was a member of the England Under-21 team in 2022 and of the England Under-26 team that reached the quarter-finals of the 2023 World Championships in Veldhoven.

After an identical start to the auction, La Chapelle also bid 4♦ on the East cards so, the English were also likely heading for a minus score. However, Liz Gahan was saved from the problem faced by the Welsh West at the other table, as Iwan Williams came in with a spade raise on the South cards. Now Gahan had an easy choice, and her red card ended the brief auction.

Declarer had two losers in each red suit plus a top club: N/S -500 and 12 IMPs to ENGLAND.

The match turned into one-way traffic after this board, ENGLAND running out winners by a massive 92-11 to open their campaign with a maximum 20-0 VP win. They were not the only ones, though, as SCOTLAND also collected a maximum in this opening round, against the SBU team.

We stay with the ENGLAND team for Round 2, where they take on NORTHERN IRELAND. Both North players were faced with the second of this week’s problems on an early deal.

Andy Cope (left) just missed out on a medal on his international debut, his England Under-16 team finishing fourth at the 2017 European Championships. He again finished fourth as a member of the England Under-21 team at the 2023 World Championships.

For the Northern Irish, Aileen Armstrong started with 1♠ on the North cards. Cope joined in on the East hand with a mixed raise, and Jack Ronayne’s jump to 4♥ surprisingly ended the auction. Is there anyone else who, holding that North hand, would allow West to play 4♥? It seems incredibly pessimistic to me.

North led his singleton diamond, but South won and switched to a spade. With the defenders’ diamond ruff gone, declarer had the rest. N/S -450.

Liz Gahan (right) made her international debut in the England Under-16 Team at the 2016 World Games. She was a member of the England Under-21 team that won bronze medals at the 2019 European Youth Teams.

After the same start, Gahan took the bull by the horns and solved the problem with a jump to 4♠ on the North cards, ending the auction.

With the English being allowed to play and make 4♥ at the other table, the Northern Irish pair here could only limit the damage by beating 4♠. Xander Todd led a top heart and then needed to find a club switch at trick two (enabling him to regain the lead with a second round of hearts to score a club ruff). That proved too difficult to find, and Todd continued with a second heart winner. The defenders later came to the ♣A, but that was it. N/S +620 and 14 IMPs to ENGLAND to get the scoreboard moving,

ENGLAND won the match 70-18 so, after two matches, they top the table overnight with a massive 39.34/40 VPs. IRELAND, with wins against SBU and NORTHERN IRELAND, are in second place with 31.98, and SCOTLAND are third with 29.31 in what is already looking like a three-horse race.

Round 3 saw the first head-to-head meeting of two of the leading three teams, with ENGLAND taking on IRELAND. It is sometimes amazing how players can find ways to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. This late deal illustrates…

Denise Walsh (left) made her international debut as a member of the Irish Schools team at the 2015 European Youth Championships.

There is no alert in the VuGraph records, but it is hard to believe that Andy Cope’s 1NT bid on that North hand was natural. Either 2♠ (a cue-bid raise) or 2♣ (if it is still inverted after the overcall) seems normal, so perhaps 1NT was a transfer, showing some sort of constructive clubs raise.

Denise Walsh got her second suit in at the two-level but then sold out when North made a game try and South retreated to 3♣. If seems rather timid to sell to 3♣ on that West hand, and a Double looks right, showing extra strength having already bid both suits. Not that it was likely to matter, as North would surely compete to 4♣ anyway.

Walsh led a top heart, but she was then endplayed at trick two. She continued with two more rounds of hearts, so declarer was eventually able to discard a spade from dummy on the thirteenth heart. He still had one spade to lose: N/S +130.

Luca Crone (right) and Michael O’Farrell made their international debuts together, as part of the Irish Under-21 team at the 2022 European Championships. They finished sixth in the Junior Pairs at the 2023 European Youth Championships.

In the replay, Crone started with a 2♠ cue-bid to show his invitational or better club raise. This meant that Daniel Winter was already at the three-level when he got to bid his second suit. Crone did not compete to 4♣, but it is unlikely that it would have made a difference. Despite the lack of high cards, Liam Sanderson did have eight cards in his partner’s two suits, so he risked a gentle raise to the four-level. Of course, Winter raised himself to game on his monster, and Crone duly wielded the axe.

An opening heart lead would have set the defenders on their way to four tricks, but why should North lead a heart? Crone opened the ♣A, declarer ruffing to lead the ♦K. Crone won with the ♦A and continued clubs. He then won the second round of trumps with the ♦Q and exited with a third round, Winter winning in dummy to take advantage of his only entry to the board. Declarer only has one legitimate chance – finding South with K-J doubleton of spades.

There was no miracle, so it looks as if declarer is certain to go one down for a 1-IMP gain. However, when Winter led the ♠10 from dummy, O’Farrell covered with the king. Winning with the ♠A and stuck in his hand, declarer had little choice but to lay down the ♠Q. Down came the ♠J (but from the North hand!), and Winter found himself with an unexpected eleven tricks. N/S -550 and 12 IMPs to ENGLAND, who won the match 42-26. After a win against NORTHERN IRELAND in Round 3, SCOTLAND then defeated ENGLAND 44-32 in Round 4. That moved the Scots up into second place, less than 1 VP behind the leaders. In Round 5, ENGLAND played the SBU team whilst SCOTLAND had what was theoretically a much tougher assignment, against IRELAND. On the first board of the match, both South players had to decide how to approach the last of this week’s problems.

Jamie Day (left) made his international debut as a member of the Scotland Under-26 team at the 2022 European Youth Championships.

Day opened 1NT and Kajetan Granops adopted what, to me, looks like an eminently sensible plan by transferring to his seven-card major and then raising to game.

Day won the opening diamond lead and played a trump, guessing correctly to rise with the king when East played low. A second round of trumps then dropped the defenders’ honours. The spade finesse failed, but declarer was able to pick up the 4-1 break easily enough, N/S +450.

Antone Huang (right) made his international debut representing Scotland in the 2023 European Youth Pairs Championship in partnerships with a regular member of India’s youth teams, Prajjwal Mayur.

On this deal, Huang got the Scots into the auction, perhaps making life more difficult for their opponents, although the Irish pair were certainly complicit in their own downfall. With such suit disparity, one has to question the wisdom of showing this South hand as ‘both majors’, particularly facing a 1NT opening and thus a guaranteed nine-card heart fit. Huang took the opportunity to get in with 3NT, showing the minors. When that was doubled by Luca Crone, Huang removed himself to 4♣. Again, Crone doubled, but there was no way that Matthew O’Farrell was going to defend holding this South hand.

When O’Farrell removed to 4♥, Crone understandably ‘corrected’ to spades. I’m not sure I understand the reasoning behind O’Farrell’s 5♥ bid. If he did not want to play the hand in a spade contract, why had he described his hand as two-suited. Of course, Crone quite understandably thought that 5♥ was a slam try. His hand certainly looked very suitable, so he jumped to 6♠. Declarer managed to make ten tricks: N/S -100 and 11 IMPs to SCOTLAND to get the scoreboard ticking over.

The tight match finished in a 40-38 victory for SCOTLAND, Meanwhile, ENGLAND were defeating the SBU team 77-35.

These were the standings at the end of the first round robin:

ENGLAND    78.07 VPs

SCOTLAND  69.52

IRELAND   55.78

SBU  37.75