Coffee and match control fuel Team GB’s return to winning ways in men’s curling

Two more games to come over the weekend as the medal hopefuls find form again

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Team GB men’s curling skip Bruce Mouat insisted his rink got a wake-up call as they returned to winning ways with a crushing victory over Norway.

Mouat ordered extra coffees for his team after they were caught slumbering in an early morning match with the USA, slipping to a narrow 9-7 defeat.

But nine hours later - after some strong caffeine and words - they were wide awake against Steffan Walstad’s Norway claiming a 8-3 victory, inspired by a brilliant two point steal in the fourth end.

“We took on a tough shot there and it’s come off. It didn’t win us the game but it gave us the advantage,” said Mouat.

“They are really good side but we’re playing really well and that was clinical and it was important to bounce back from the defeat to the USA.

“I’m looking forward to a day off and long lie in and then we can focus on our game on Sunday.

“This was a really important match for ironing out the kinks in our game, all four us were firing on all cylinders and that really gives some momentum.

“We controlled the game from the start and established ourselves, we were pretty relentless and never gave up.”

There are high hopes for Mouat’s team here, after their silver at last year’s World Championships and impressive victory at the Europeans in November.

They started their campaign with a classy win over Italy but Mouat admits a lack of time together - they’ve not played since winning gold in Lillehammer - was a factor in a bit of rustiness.

They will get a day off in Beijing on Saturday but will be back in action the following day with matches against hosts China and Denmark.

“It’s definitely a long week ahead. We obviously know we can fight back in any situation,” he added. “It’s nice to see we can do that and it gives us a lot of confidence going forward.

“But this is only our third game in a few months, so I’m still getting back to playing with the boys and just need to figure out a few more things.”

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