Ian Poulter overcame the loss of his caddy with pneumonia to take a share of the halfway lead at the BMW International Open in Munich.

The Ryder Cup reserve caught Friday's pace-setters Richard Bland and Jamie Spence with a birdie on 16 that took him to 13 under for the tournament.

Spence had earlier shot an aggressive eight-under-par 64 for a two-round total of 131 on another low-scoring day at the Nord-Eichenried course.

The European challenge was led by Denmark's Thomas Bjorn, whose 64 left him just a stroke off the pace.

First round leader Bernhard Langer was a further shot back with a three-under 69.

That was good scoring under the circumstances as the 45-year-old had initially feared he might not even be able to start his round after being struck by food poisoning overnight.

Poulter was able to replace his stricken caddy, Jimmy Rae, with Andy Prodger before teeing off.

Prodger was available because his regular player, Colin Montgomerie had missed the event with a back injury.

Poulter said: "He was home mowing his grass when I called.

"He got here about 40 minutes before I teed off, but it turned out all right."

Spence is something of a low-scoring specialist, having equalled the lowest ever score on tour with a final round 60 to win the European Masters in 1992 after starting the final day 10 shots behind.

And he summoned up that attacking mentality again to compile the second best score of the day, taking just one stroke more than Paul Casey's 63.

"It's one of those courses where you've got to be aggressive," the 39-year-old said.

"At Wentworth or The Belfry, for instance, you'd come unstuck playing like that, but here you've got to go for birdies or you are not in the race."

Defending champion John Daly birdied the last to finish four-under with a second-round 70 to ensure he made the cut.

And the American's playing partner, the in-form Justin Rose, joined the British assault on the title, moving up to joint 13th, six off the lead, with a 67.

131 Richard Bland 65 66, Jamie Spence 67 64, Ian Poulter 65 66
132 Thomas Bjorn (Den) 68 64
133 Bernard Langer (Ger) 64 69
134 Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 67 67, David Lynn 67 67, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 69 65, Philip Golding 69 65
135 Rolf Muntz (Ned) 70 65, Paul Casey 72 63, Henrik Bjornstad (Nor) 69 66, Alastair Forsyth 68 67, David Park 68 67, David Howell 70 65, Steen Tinning (Den) 68 67
136 Daren Lee 68 68, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 68 68, John Bickerton 67 69, Marten Olander (Swe) 69 67, Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 69 67
137 Justin Rose 70 67, Barry Lane 68 69, Simon Dyson 70 67, Gary Clark 70 67, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 70 67, Adam Mednick (Swe) 72 65, Nick Dougherty 70 67
138 Andrew Coltart 70 68, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 67 71, Peter Senior (Aus) 70 68, David Geall 70 68, Andrew Marshall 69 69, Gary Orr 70 68, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 66 72, Robert Coles 65 73, Warren Bennett 72 66, Paul McGinlay (Ire) 70 68, Greg Owen 69 69

Selected others:
140 John Daly 70 70, Padraig Harrington (Ire) 70 70
141 Philip Price 70 71