Two commanding wins over quality opposition saw Scotland’s Team Mouat make the ideal start to the defence of their LGT World Men’s Curling Championship title as play got underway in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.
Even before their matches got underway Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan seized the initiative with two exceptional performances in the last stone draw contests which decide who has hammer and last stone advantage at the opening end.
In their opening round-robin match against a Korean tram skipped by the highly experienced Jong-duk Park, they registered a two at the opening end and, after forcing their opponents to take just one at the next, they then crafted the opportunity to score a three at the third end.
Replicating that sequence over the next two ends saw them take an 8-3 lead into the midway break and the match ended when they scored two more at the seventh end to move 10-3 ahead.
They then made an even better start against the USA, led by 2018 Olympic winning skip John Shuster, who felt pressurised into taking on a difficult raised takeout with his final shot and when he missed it left Mouat with a straightforward draw for the three that put his team in charge.
When Shuster was again made to take gambles that did not come off at the next end, the Scots then stole a two to move into a commanding 5-0 lead on their way to a second 10-3 victory against opponents who had both run them much closer when Team Mouat were on their way to winning the Aberdeen International title earlier this month.
“That was a really good first day for us with solid performances all round,” said Mouat.
“It’s a tough position going into the first day not knowing what the ice is going to be like, but we really got a grip of it early on and played some really good shots to get the momentum and the lead against two very good opponents.
““We played them both in Aberdeen and had really close games with both of them, but we started both games very well, coming out with a two against Korea and a three against the USA.”
He was particularly pleased with the way his team had maintained their focus as Shuster cleverly mixed up his tactics after his team had fallen behind and managed to steal a shot at the fourth end, before tempting Mouat to take another unnecessary risk at the fifth, which the Scottish skip turned down in looking to manage the scoreboard.
“Shuster threw quite a lot at us and we got into a bit of trouble at some of the ends, but after they got their steal of one we really focused on trying to keep the centre clear to give us an easy shot for one in order to keep momentum in the game,” said Mouat
“Getting a one at the fifth end to be four up going into the break was quite key not to give up the steal there, which is why we went for the draw for one instead of the tap for three.”
He jokingly noted, too, that as well as seeking to gain the upper hand over the rest of the field, there is some competition among the Scots themselves since he and McMillan had played the last stone draw which gave them the upper hand on day one, throwing down the gauntlet to Hardie and Lammie, whose turn it will be on day two.
“Today showed that the draw shot is quite important and we’ve put a lot of work into that since the Scottish Championships and it’s showing up which is nice,” Mouat observed.
“There’s a bit of internal rivalry, a wee bit of fun, but we’re just trying to get as close to the pin as we can all of the time and trying to get hammer in every game, which would be very good, but is a tough task.”
They know, however, that their competitive drive has to be fully directed towards their next opponents as they meet Canada’s Team Gushue in a re-match of last year’s World Championship final, before taking on cJoel Retornaz’s current world number one ranked Italians.
“We’ve got two really big games tomorrow, but if we keep the momentum going from what we’ve built today we’ll be in a good spot,” said Mouat.
“It’s a really good opportunity for us to put a marker down on the competition with Italy and Canada tomorrow.”
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Selected games are also available on the BBC iPlayer, BBC Scotland website and app.
31/03/2024
Scotland v Canada
Scotland v Italy
02/04/2024
Scotland v Germany
03/04/2024
Scotland v Japan
05/04/2024
Scotland v Sweden
Please click here for more event information and results.
Scotland Team
Bruce Mouat
Grant Hardie
Bobby Lammie
Hammy McMillan
Kyle Waddell (alternate)
Team Coach Michael Goodfellow
Olympic Head Coach Greg Drummond
Schedule (GMT/BST) & Results
Saturday 30 March
Session 1
Scotland – Korea 10-3
Session 2
Scotland – USA 10-3
Sunday 31 March
Session 4 – 13.00
Scotland – Canada
Session 5 – 18.00
Scotland - Italy
Monday 1 April
Session 7 – 13.00
Scotland – New Zealand
Tuesday 2 April
Session 10 – 13.00
Scotland –Germany
Wednesday 3 April
Session 12 – 08.00
Scotland – Czechia
Session 14- 18.00
Scotland –Japan
Thursday 4 April
Session 15 – 08.00
Scotland –Netherlands
Session 17 – 18.00
Scotland - Switzerland
Friday 5 April
Session 18 – 08.00
Scotland –Norway
Session 20-18.00
Scotland –Sweden
Saturday 6 April
09.00
Qualification
15.00
Semi Finals
Sunday 7 April
09.00
Bronze Medal Game
14.00
Gold Medal Game
