Matt Wallace’s hopes of helping England to GolfSixes glory ended in disappointment when they suffered a quarter-final defeat to France in the innovative European Tour event near St Albans.

The Moor Park professional and teammate Eddie Pepperell advanced into the knockout stages by topping their group in the 16-team, six-hole tournament with a win and two draws yesterday at Centurion Club.

But the England Men were playing catch-up after losing the first hole when Wallace misjudged a birdie putt and were unable to recover as Romain Wattel and Mike Lorenzo-Vera booked their place in the semi-finals with a hole to spare.

Two-time European Tour winner Wallace said: “We played five (holes) and we got beat pretty unanimously by the French. They played nice, we didn’t get off to the best start which was my fault really, and I said sorry to Eddie for that. But it’s the nature of the game, we got behind quite early and it was tough to game from that and we just missed a few putts.”

The competition is played in a greensomes match-play format with both players taking tee shots, selecting the best one and then playing alternately.

After both England players left their tee shots short on the par three first, Wallace knocked his birdie attempt some 15 feet past the hole and Pepperell was unable to make par as their opponents landed the first blow.

The next two holes were halved before France landed what was to prove the decisive blow on the par four fourth when Wattal landed a birdie from around 20 feet to put France two up with two to play.

The French duo turned the screw further on the par three fifth, both putting their tee shots to within 15 feet of the hole, while Pepperell’s effort towards the back of the green was the best England could muster.

Wallace was unable to hole a long birdie effort and when Wattal knocked his putt to the side of the hole, England shook hands as their tournament hopes came to an end.

The defeat was the second loss suffered by an England team as the women’s side of Georgia Hall and Charley Hull were beaten 2-0 by Ireland’s Paul Dunne and Gavin Moynihan.

Both women’s teams reached the knockout stages, but both were to exit in the quarter-finals as the European side of Mel Reid and Carlota Ciganda also lost 2-0 to Australia’s Wade Ormsby and Sam Brazel.

The opening last-eight clash had seen South Korea’s Jeunghun Wang and Soomin Lee edge out the Thai pair of Tongchai Jaidee and Kiradech Aphibarnrat 2-1.