Bowls: National title delight as South Shields claim Denny Plate glory

Back in October, South Shields’ Denny Cup hopes were left in tatters after a one-shot loss to Stanley.

That defeat saw Shields drop into the Denny Plate, but they regrouped and took the competition by storm.

Consecutive wins over The Parks, Houghton, Copeland, Darlington and Boston, plus a semi-final success against Beecles, set up a final against West Berks at Nottingham.

Even without England international David Bolt, the final was plain sailing for the confident Shields outfit, who ran out 97-47 winners, with 13 ends unplayed.

Jaxon McKenna, Paul Sainthouse, Stewart Hubbard and Shaun McIntosh eased to a 30-9 win over Tony Aubrey, while brother Ian McIntosh steered Neal Ridley, Stevie Cairns and Ian Riches to a 27-9 win over Barry Williams.

Scott Baker, Mal Peach, Phil Dixon and Kris Storf defeated Martyn Chant 22-15, with the remaining rink of Dave Paterson, Josh Minto, James Sneller and Gary Farquhar completing the whitewash by grinding out a 18-14 win over Gordon Ballantyne.

It’s a first club national title for South Shields, who will now look to build on this success next year and make progress in the Denny Cup as they will not want to defend their Plate title.

Meanwhile, South Shields head to New Earswick today to face Nottingham in the Top Club semi-finals.

Despite missing David Bolt and the McIntosh brothers, there is no reason why Shields cannot progress to the final.

Shaun and Ian McIntosh head to Nottingham tomorrow for the latter stages of the Family pairs, tackling Riverain’s Jamie Claydon in the last 16.