AFTER branding Ian Poulter a "Hollywood" golfer on Wednesday, Colin Montgomerie should have guessed that he would be caught on camera dressing him down with an 18-certificate rant.

The duo's explosive confrontation overshadowed an enthralling second day at the Seve Trophy yesterday in which Poulter answered his critics with a barrage of birdies but Great Britain & Ireland still proved unable to claw back Continental Europe's lead.

The visitors enjoy a two-point cushion at the start of this morning's greensomes after winning two of the day's five fourballs, but their greatest advantage could yet come from the growing rifts in the British camp.

Montgomerie claims all is well after Thursday night's "heated discussions", but the body language of the home players suggests otherwise.

Trouble flared on the final green of the opening day's play as Padraig Harrington lined up a crucial putt that he would eventually miss to hand victory to the French pairing of Jean-Francois Remesy and Thomas Levet.

While seven members of the British team watched on, Poulter was nonchalantly hitting drives on the practice range some 100 yards away.

Harrington complained, Montgomerie contested and, as Poulter held his ground, an unseemly slanging match ensued. The team nature of the Seve Trophy demands a certain degree of spirit - this was surely taking the concept a little too far.

"We still had a few hours of daylight after that," said Montgomerie, with a knowing smile. "Padraig had a point and Ian has answered that point very well and very honestly.

"Ian was hitting drivers and drivers are noisy. He was hitting those drivers in between some of the putts and it was heard.

"Padraig was 99.9 per cent certain that Ian was going to stop when he was putting. But there was 0.1 per cent of him that wasn't sure. That was the problem.

"It was just a captain speaking to one of his players and I'm okay with both of them now. It's good that there's a bit of passion in this match. Team games need a bit of passion to make them what they are."

Poulter certainly profited from that passion yesterday as, partnering Nick Dougherty for the second day in a row, he turned the tables on Levet and Remesy by trouncing them 5&4. The flamboyant 29-year-old rolled in six birdies as he and his partner finished on ten under par for their opening 14 holes and slammed any suggestions of an irreparable rift with some of his team-mates.

"Colin had every reason not to be happy," admitted Poulter. "I wasn't happy and neither was anybody else.

"He came over and told me we had a team meeting in ten minutes' time behind closed doors. He told me Harrington wasn't overly happy that I had been hitting balls on the range.

"That's fine, absolutely fine. I have no problems whatsoever. Maybe I should have done it after everyone had finished - maybe that was a bit of a mistake. But it's lesson learned and there's nothing whatsoever between any of us now."

That might not be entirely true of Montgomerie. As if having to build bridges with Poulter was not bad enough, by last night the Scot could have been forgiven for focusing his fury on someone else.

An old variety-show joke used to suggest that Malcolm Allison had had more clubs than Jack Nicklaus. Yesterday, Bradley Dredge also had more clubs than the American legend - and it safe to say that nobody on the home side thought it was a laughing matter.

By starting his round with 15 clubs in his bag, rather than the requisite 14, Dredge and his partner Stephen Dodd were forced to concede the opening hole of their fourball with Maarten Lafeber and Emanuele Canonica.

Ian Woosnam made exactly the same mistake at the Open in 2001 and the extent of his compatriot's folly became clear when Dredge trudged away from the 18th green having been unable to overhaul a one-shot deficit to prevent the European side claiming their second win of the day.

Clearly, neither Dredge nor his caddy, Nick Fidgeon, had counted what was in their bag as they strode to the first tee. As a result, the entire British team might be counting the cost of his error tomorrow night.

"That was the difference," admitted rookie Dredge, who also lost his fourball on the opening day of the tournament. "We are normally very careful and it was annoying to give a hole away so cheaply.

"I didn't have any leggings and it started raining so Finch, my caddie, was off getting some. Normally I have either a two iron or a four wood in the bag but, when I reached for my four wood after driving to the right, I checked and realised I had both."

The mistake overshadowed what was an otherwise impressive performance from the British side as another two of Thursday's losing pairings - Harrington and Paul McGinley and David Howell and Paul Casey - recorded wins.

"What can you say when something like that happens?" asked Montgomerie.

"We heard on the fourth hole that there had been an incident on the first.

"I couldn't quite believe what was happening. I mean what do you do when a player starts with 15 clubs and loses the first hole halfway down the fairway? What do you say to that?"

Dredge will not be given the chance to atone for his error this morning as, perhaps predictably, he has been asked to sit out the four greensomes games.

The identity of the other British absentee was rather more of a surprise though.

For the first time in Seve Trophy history, Montgomerie will be an interested observer rather than an active participant.

"It was always my intention to sit out," revealed the Scot. "It gives me a chance to watch what is going on in the morning and have a little think about what I'm going to do in terms of the foursomes in the afternoon.

"I'll watch what happens and decide what feels comfortable and what doesn't.

"If all goes according to plan, I'll look forward to possibly coming back in the afternoon."