Bruce Mouat hails ‘happy camp’ as Scotland ease past New Zealand at World Men’s Curling Championship

Bruce Mouat hailed a “happy camp” after Scotland earned a comfortable win over New Zealand at the World Men’s Curling Championship.

The defending champions were stunned by Canada on Sunday afternoon, but bounced back later that day with a victory over Italy.

They needed just six ends to defeat New Zealand 8-2 in the Swiss town of Schaffhausen.

“It was important for us to come out today and keep our momentum rolling after the big win against Italy the previous evening,” Mouat said.

“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.”

Mouat added: “We can go for dinner and relax a bit, so it’s all happy in the Scotland camp right now.”

Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan are hoping for more of the same against Germany on Tuesday, April 2, as they look to strengthen their position in the round-robin standings.

Sweden are the only unbeaten side so far and made it five wins from five with a 10-8 success over Scandinavian rivals Norway.

Italy handed Canada their first defeat of the competition, winning 7-6 after an extra end, while Switzerland beat the Netherlands 8-5.