Great Britain & Ireland drew first blood in their defence of the Seve Trophy by Golf+, but Continental Europe held the lead in the remaining fourball matches on the opening day at Saint-Nom-La-Bretéche.
Scottish pair Paul Lawrie and Stephen Gallacher beat veteran duo Miguel Angel Jiménez and Thomas Björn 3 and 2 in the first match out after recovering from an early deficit.
But Finland's Mikko Ilonen and Denmark's Thorbjørn Olesen were two up on the unbeaten Chris Wood - who won four and a half points out of five in 2009 - and debutant Tommy Fleetwood after 15 holes, while Italian pair Francesco Molinari and Matteo Manassero were one up on Paul Casey and Simon Khan after 14.
Joost Luiten and home favourite Gregory Bourdy were also two up on Jamie Donaldson and David Lynn after 13 holes, the in-form Luiten having gone to the turn in an approximate six under par 29.
And in the final game, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño and Nicolas Colsaerts were two up on Marc Warren and Scott Jamieson with six to play.
Jiménez had birdied the first and third but Gallacher matched the second of those and then crucially saved par on the fifth to prevent his side from going two down.
Lawrie then used a driver for his second shot on the par five seventh and smashed it onto the green from 257 yards to set up a winning birdie, Gallacher putting the Scots ahead on the next from 20 feet.
A par on the tenth was enough to double the lead but Jiménez hit back with a birdie on the 11th and Björn looked to have levelled the match when he chipped in for birdie on the 13th, only for Gallacher to follow him in from 12 feet.
Further birdies on the 15th and 16th then sealed the win and a delighted Lawrie said: "It's always nice to win. Obviously there is a little bit more pressure when you are going out there first, you want to get a point on the board which we managed to do and we both combined very well today."
