Scotland’s defending champions made the very most of their first evening off at the LGT World Men’s Curling Championships in Switzerland as they defeated New Zealand 8-2 in just six ends.
In spite of starting the match without the hammer and last stone advantage, Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan opened and closed the match with counts of three as they dominated proceedings from the off. 
“It was important for us to come out today and keep our momentum rolling after the big win against Italy the previous evening,” said skip Mouat after they had registered their fourth win in five matches to sit in a share of second spot in the standings.
“We felt we needed to start strong, which is what we’ve done well in most of the games, so coming out and stealing three was what we were hoping for to give us the edge in the game and we controlled it from there.
“We didn’t really give them much room to breathe from that point, so we’re in a really good spot and it’s nice to have a bit of a quieter day at this stage in the event and we feel like we’re going to enjoy our evening.
“We can go for dinner and relax a bit, so it’s all happy in the Scotland camp right now.”
While it is their fifth appearance at a World Championships, their previous efforts having secured a full set of gold, silver and bronze medals, this is the first on this side of the Atlantic for the team that has won all four of the European Championships they have contested together and they are enjoying the environment in Schaffhausen.
“We’ve been really impressed with the arena and the fans here,” said Mouat.
“It’s been so nice to have a World Championships in Europe and it’s really nice to see the crowds coming in.
“We’re very much enjoying it, the atmosphere’s great and we’re excited to see what happens for the rest of this week.”
Properly rested they now face a similar schedule on day four, with just one match to prepare for against Germany.
“Tomorrow will be another pretty crucial day,” said Mouat.
“It will be our last one game day of the Championships, so we’ll try to make the most of that.
“We’ve played against the German skip a couple of times, but I don’t think I’ve played the other boys who look like they’ve done pretty well in the juniors, so they will be tough opposition and we’ll have to come out firing, hopefully start the game well and look to control it again.”
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Selected games are also available on the BBC iPlayer, BBC Scotland website and app.
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
Scotland – Canada 4-8
Session 5
Scotland – Italy 8-3
Monday 1 April
Session 7 – 13.00
Scotland – New Zealand 8-2
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
Image: World Curling
