CurlingZone: Scots set sights on Semis after securing spot in playoffs

An excellent two-win day sandwiched qualification for the play-offs while they were off the ice as Scotland's Team Whyte secured their place in the play-offs at the LGT World Men's Championships with three round robin matches to spare in Utah.

Photo: Scotland supporters at the LGT World Men's Curling Championship in Utah.

Ross Whyte, Robin Brydone, Craig Waddell, Euan Kyle and alternate Duncan McFadzean opened the sixth day of play with a 9-3 win over China but were among the teams not involved in the day's middle session which confirmed which six teams would reach the play-offs.

With their place in the knockout stages secure they then faced a Norwegian team that remains win-less, but which then demonstrated that no opponent can be under-estimated at this level as they took the Scots to the last end before they secured a 7-5 win.

"We were very pleased to see the Q next to our name," said skip Ross Whyte.

"Its always a nice feeling when you know you are into the quarter finals, but we know we have a bit of work to do to try and get into the semi finals knowing that we need to win all our remaining games and hopefully have the best draw shot or at least be in the top two."

Playing in their first ever World Championships together, the eight match winning run that has taken Whyte's men into the business end of the competition has been all the more impressive after they lost both their matches on the opening day.

"It was a tough first day and I suppose it was one of those when you are looking ahead of you and seeing all the tough teams you are yet to play," their skip observed.

"So we knew trying to get to that quarter final spot was always going to be a bit difficult, but to do it with three games to play was a nice feeling."

While his team had enjoyed the benefit of a string of early finishes, maximising the recovery time for sweepers, the skip reckoned that there had been benefits in having to play the full 10 ends against Norway in terms of what they learned about the changing conditions.

"We felt like we were in control, but we noticed the ice changed a little bit during the game which made it a little bit more difficult," said Whyte.

"We were up for that challenge, though and it felt like we were in a position to manage it and see what we would have later on in the competition, so it was great to go on and play what was close to a ten end game, allowing us to understand what the ice is going to do towards the end if we do get into those sorts of situations at the end of the week.

"The ice definitely changes and we know there will be some tighter battles towards the end of this week, so hopefully that gives us a good understanding of what it will be like later on."

Their focus now switches to the first of their matches on the final day of round-robin competition which could decide who gets the advantage of a bye directly to the semi-finals, since they face Switzerland, who are along with Canada one of two sides they are tied with in joint second spot in the rankings with eight wins and two losses.

"We know it is an important game and we are desperate to try and get that semi final spot which saves us one of the games," said Whyte.

"It's been a long week and we have had three morning games on the trot going into the play-offs so if we could try and get a bye and get a Friday morning off that would be really nice and relaxing to help us get ready to go again, so we are very keen on putting in a big performance today and hope that transitions into a semi final spot."

The Scots face Switzerland at 4pm GMT, before taking on Czechia in their final round-robin match at 2am GMT.

The championship takes place from March 27 to April 4 with all 13 competing nations meeting one another in round-robin competition before the top six go on to battle for the medals.

Scotland's 12 rival nations are - Canada, China, Czechia, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA

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