Curling: Brewster falters against Denmark after big win over Norway

Tom Brewster’s team went down to their first loss, by 7-9 to Denmark, in yesterday afternoon’s fourth session of round-robin play at the World Men’s Championship in Basel, Switzerland.

Earlier they had opened with a 5-3 win over a New Zealand team skipped by ex-pat Scot Peter de Boer and then downed Norway – current European champions and Olympic silver medallists – 11-6 in their second Saturday game. The Scots had the worst possible start in the game against Denmark, giving up what Brewster described as a “soft three” in the first end, and they were chasing the game after that.

They could only score one in the second end, and then their problems were compounded when the Danes followed up their opening three with a further two shots in the third end, when skip Rasmus Stjerne tapped up one of his own stones to count two for a 5-1 lead.

The Scots responded with a two of their own in the fourth, but Denmark then scored two again, for a 7-3 half-time lead. Despite all of Brewster’s best efforts, they could not really get back on terms and, eventually, Stjerne took out the necessary Scottish stone in the tenth to make a Scottish succeess impossible, and win by 9-7.

Afterwards, Brewster said: “We just got off to a bad start and never really got it back to be honest. We made a lot of good shots, but we just didn’t get the breaks. The fifth was a turning point and the three at the first was just a soft three.”

Against New Zealand, the Scots moved in to the lead in the fourth end, with a steal of one for 2-1 and never looked back, while in the game against Norway, they lost a three in the second end, making their eventual comfortable win even more creditable. To complete their win against Norway, the Scots scored five in the ninth end, and Brewster added: “I was going to be happy to be one win and one loss tonight, rather than two wins.

“That’s a big win for us and I’m really pleased. The five? It just built out of nothing.

“He realised if they didn’t score they were going to lose the game, so they kept gambling and didn’t make the shots”.

The Scots continue their round-robin programme against Germany and then hosts Switzerland today.