Wood stars as Scotland bring home the spoils

AFTER a four-year gap, Scotland returned home from Llandrindod Wells in Wales with the Home International Series title after staying four points clear of the other three nations.

After their opening fright against the host nation, the Scots went on to enjoy a 124-94 win over Ireland and yesterday accounted for defending champions England 123-101 to take the title for the 40th time since it's inauguration in 1903 and, ironically, win the title for the third successive time it has been played at this venue, winning initially in 2000 and again in 2004.

The Scots took the lead from the second quarter of the match and gradually pulled away from there, finishing with wins on the rinks skipped by Lothian players Willie Wood, Grant Logan, Colin Mitchell and Darren Burnett to set the victory celebrations in motion.

Not for the first time in his illustrious career has Willie Wood returned as the best performing skip, but age appears to be no barrier for the recently-turned 70 year old as he turned in a dazzling display skipping Jim Meikle, Stuart Hogg and his world triples winning partner Billy Mellors to three wins from his three outings and winding up the Series with a shots tally of 26.

Kirkliston's Grant Logan also finished with a 100 per cent record with Martyn Rice, Jim Gilruth and Robert Marshall wrapping up their campaign with 19 shots to their credit.

Linlithgow club president Gary Smith made his debut in the navy and purple of Scotland after representing England for 13 series and along with new cap Tommy Mann formed the middle partnership in Burnett's rink where they beat Robert Weale of Wales and England's Ian Bond but lost to Ireland's Jonathan Ross to wrap up with two wins and +7 shots.

Ian Campbell had Uphall Station's Neil Speirs at third and after finishing as the heroes in Scotland's one-shot victory over Wales, they beat Cliff Craig from Ireland but then lost to England's Robert Newman and finished in fourth place with +6 shots.

West Barn's Alistair Kennedy played second in the rink skipped by new cap Robert Grant and they beat Ireland's Noel Graham then were pipped on the finishing line by a single shot by Carlisle's Steve Farish, and although they one won one game, Colin Mitchell's rink played an important role in yesterday's title success. They beat the top English skip Mark Walton 26-11 to secure the vital shots for Scotland's victory.

Team manager George Sneddon beamed: "You don't need any incentives when you play England and the team responded exceptionally well. They all played their part and it was a great overall team performance."

"We're delighted to be bringing the title back to Scotland. We got off to a sticky start but then came good particularly against England."