Britain fall short in Norway tussle

Published on Wednesday 24 February 2010 22:23

GREAT Britain's men, skipped by David Murdoch, headed into a nerve jangling play-off against Sweden for a place in the curling semi-finals after losing 9-5 to Norway in their final round robin match.

The Swedes, European champions, defeated Denmark 7-6 to finish with an equal record to Britain of five wins and four defeats from their round robin matches. A win for the Danes would have sent the British straight through to the last four.

Sweden scored a surprise win over Britain in their opening round robin game and British skip Murdoch had a chance for revenge when the two met again overnight at the Vancouver Olympic Centre, with a semi-final date against Canada later today up for grabs.

With at least the tie-breaker berth assured, Britain could not clinch a semi-final spot against the Norwegians, who had already qualified.

Thomas Ulsrud's team took a 2-0 lead into the second end and when Britain hit back with three points, Norway replied with two points in the third end.

Murdoch had the chance to shoot for two more points before a mistake left him with just one from the fourth and two more points for Norway in the fifth end left Britain trailing 6-4.

There was more woe for the British when Norway took three points in the seventh end to take a commanding 9-4 lead.

A point in the eighth end was not enough for Murdoch and the British skip conceded the game before leaving the arena to wait for the Sweden-Denmark result.

"That was pretty disappointing, to be honest," said Murdoch That was a great opportunity for us and we never took it."

Looking ahead to the tense play-off against the Swedes, he added: "The way you've got to see it is it's just another game. At least we're not out, that's the main thing."

The winner of the match will square off against Canada today. Murdoch's team have won big matches against Canada in the past, including at the 2009 world championships, and he said his team play their best against them. "If we win we would play Canada. We like playing them, it always brings the best out in us. It is not something we are scared of and if we played Kevin it would be one almighty game," said Murdoch.

The Canadians, led by Kevin Martin, were favourites going into the Olympics and have dominated the competition with accurate shooting and cagey strategy.

Norway will play Switzerland in the other semi-final.

"I think they are a very, very tough team to beat, but we showed (we can win] in the past. We beat them in the medal game at the Europeans in December, so that gives us some confidence," Swiss player Ralph Stoeckli said.

Norway's King Harald V received his colourful curling slacks and cheered his countrymen to the 9-5 victory over Britain, a win that earned skip Thomas Ulsrud's foursome the No. 2 seed for today's semi-final against Switzerland.

Afterwards, the king met briefly with the Norwegians – and received his pair of their funky, diamond-printed slacks now famous across the globe.

"He was diplomatic. He said, 'Yeah, very nice.' I said, 'Hey, try them on, see if it's the right size.' He's like, 'Maybe later,"' Ulsrud said, laughing. "He was actually a real cool guy. I was impressed how much he knew about curling as well."

The king, who declined interview requests, isn't the only one who likes the slacks. A Facebook page called "The Norwegian Olympic Curling Team's Pants" had more than 400,000 fans as of Tuesday night.