[ritchiebaby]

I've been curling now for a couple of weeks, so it's only right that the World Championship season gets under way too. The first major competition starts in Kelowna, British Columba, Canada on Saturday 13 October, culminating in the Medal Games a week later. The first ranked team in each pool will receive an automatic place in the quarter-finals – to be played at 20.00 on Friday 19 October. The second and third place teams in each pool will be placed into the qualification round prior to the quarter-finals.

The four Home Nations are all represented, with Scotland being the defending champions, albeit with a different line-up.
As an aside, this is NOT Nessie, the Scottish Mascot - it is Ogopogo, the local lake monster bearing a striking resemblance to the real Loch Ness monster. Too many whiskies from the Scottish immigrant population, if you ask me.  


The Home Nation Teams
England - Greg Dunn (Skip), Lorna Rettig (Third), Jonathan Braden, (Second) and Sydney Boyd (Lead)
Ireland - James Russell (Skip), Ailsa Anderson (Third), Arran Cameron (Second) and Katie Kerr (Lead)
Scotland - Robin Brydone (Skip), Rebecca Morrison (Third), Ross Whyte (Second) and Leeanne McKenzie (Lead)
Wales - Adrian Meikle (Skip), Dawn Watson (Third), Andrew Tanner (Second) and Laura Beever (Lead)

There are 35 competing nations and Group A includes England, Scotland and Wales with Group B featuring Ireland.

The Group A games on Saturday have Wales opening their account against Germany and then Turkey, with Scotland taking on Belarus and England playing Hong Kong. On Sunday England play Italy and Belarus, Scotland play Hong Kong and Wales play Kazakhstan.

In Group B, Ireland take on Australia on Saturday and Switzerland on Sunday.

As you will all know by now, it's far too early to have any team photos up on the WCF website, so I've "borrowed" the Scottish team photo from their own FB page.

Robin Brydone, Rebecca Morrison, Ross Whyte and Leeanne McKenzie

[Lord Snooty]

Yaaaay! Winter again. It's 20 degrees here in sunny Wakefield.

[ritchiebaby]

22 degrees oop north. Gardening all day today, even had to get the Factor 15 out!

[St Charles Owl]

Winter?? What's winter?? I've forgotten that since I moved West 4 years ago!!

[ritchiebaby]

Scotland started with a 10-3 win over Belarus and continued with a 7-2 win over Hong Kong today. Tomorrow is local derby day with England and Wales their opponents.

England lost 3-7 to Hong Kong on Saturday, but found their form in a 10-4 win over Italy, including a score of 5 shots in the 4th end. They are due to start their game against Belarus at midnight tonight (BST), probably at 16.00 in the sunshine for SCO.  

Wales have already been beaten by Germany by 4-6 and Turkey by 4-7 on Saturday, but recovered to beat Kazakhstan 11-6 this morning.

Ireland lost 5-6 to Australia in the last end in their first game and 7-8 to Switzerland after an extra end in the next, so near and yet so far. Something has to give tomorrow, with games against Brazil and then Netherlands, both of whom are also looking for their first win.

Still no team photos yet, but I've somehow managed to take screenshots of Wales from Saturday. I'll try to feature the rest of the home nations, but any success will be in the laps of the gods!

Adrian Meikle

Andrew Tanner and Laura Beever

[ritchiebaby]

Unfortunately for England, they managed to start their game against Belarus with 1 shot in the first end, but suddenly stopped eventually losing 3-11. Their habit of losing 3s and 4s continued into this lunchtime's game against Scotland and again lost 3-11.

Scotland now await Wales in the evening game today and play Italy and Kazakhstan tomorrow. Wales' games tomorrow are against Hong Kong and Italy. England play Germany and now have to keep winning to have any chance of progressing.

Despite being 3-6 down to Brazil after 5 ends, Ireland came storming back to win 10-6 and will play Netherlands tonight. Russia and USA are their opponents tomorrow.

Proper team photos up today!!!

WALES - Laura Beever, Andrew Tanner, Dawn Watson and Adrian Meikle

IRELAND - Katie Kerr, Arran Cameron, Ailsa Anderson and James Russell

ENGLAND - Sydney Boyd, Jonathan Braden, Lorna Rettig and Greg Dunn

[ritchiebaby]

Ireland again took advantage of a "lesser" team by beating Netherlands 12-3, including 6 shots at the first end and 4 shots in the 6th and final end. However they reverted to type against a stronger team in Russia, losing 3-8.

Scotland took control in the early part of the game against Wales, winning 7-4 to continue their unbeaten start. The Scots again controlled the early part of their next game, beating Italy by 9 shots to 3.

Wales got back on track in their next game, beating Hong Kong 7-6 with 3 shots in the last end to sneak a narrow win.

Tomorrow's games have Ireland playing Finland, Scotland playing Germany, Wales playing Belarus, with England playing Kazakhstan and Turkey.

In the current standings, Scotland are unbeaten on 5 wins and look sure to go through to the knockout stages with the 4th place teams only having 2 wins. One of these is Wales, and they have a slight chance of qualifying being only 1 win behind the 3rd place team, albeit having played one game more. England have only 1 win and must win the rest of their games to have any chance. Ireland are in the same position as Wales, with 2 wins, but only 1 win behind the 3rd place teams.


Leeanne McKenzie, Ross Whyte and Rebecca Morrison, Scotland

[ritchiebaby]

As I'm curling tonight, I've only got time for a quickie, hopefully catching up tomorrow night.

In a low-scoring game last night, England beat previously undefeated Germany by 4-3, after giving them a tactical master class. More of the same is now required to keep them on track. After today's vital games, they meet the old enemy, Wales, tomorrow in the final round robin game which could decide both their fates.

Wales, however, slid to a last end defeat to Italy by 5-6 and are also in the position where they must win all of their remaining games.

Scotland were much more relaxed in disposing of Kazakhstan by 10-3, meaning that they have already qualified for the next stage with 2 games to go. In their final game tomorrow they will play Turkey.

Ireland suffered another defeat, this time by 2-6 against USA, and have only Denmark left to play tomorrow.


Arran Cameron, Katie Kerr and James Russell, Ireland

[ritchiebaby]

Catch up time with only Scotland providing good news. They defeated Germany 6-1 and Turkey 7-1 in 2 dominant games.

England continued with another victory by 8-2 against Kazakhstan, but lost out to Turkey by 5-8, losing 4 shots in the final end while leading. They then lost 5-9 against Wales in their last game.

Wales were edged out 4-5 by Belarus but came good in the local derby against England.

Ireland defeated one of their close rivals, Finland, by 4-3 after an extra end, but fell 4-9 to Denmark.

Scotland, Germany and Turkey qualified from Group A with Wales 6th and England 8th. In Group B, the qualifiers were Russia, Denmark and Switzerland with Ireland in 7th place. The other qualifiers are Spain, Czech Republic, Sweden, Norway, Canada and Slovenia.

The qualification games later this afternoon will be Czech Republic v Switzerland, Slovenia v Canada, Sweden v Germany, Denmark v Turkey. Scotland, Spain, Russia and Norway await the winners in tonight's quarter-finals.


Sydney Boyd, Greg Dunn and Jonathan Braden - England

[ritchiebaby]

Results in chronological order or even date order, but they don't alter the fact that Scotland slipped out of the reckoning, losing to Canada after an extra end.

Qualification Games
Czech Republic 4 Switzerland 7, Slovenia 5 Canada 9, Sweden 5 Germany 7, Denmark 7 Turkey 8 (after an extra end).
Quarter-finals
Canada 8 Scotland 5, Norway 6 Switzerland 4, Russia 11 Turkey 4, Germany 4 Spain 6.
Semi-finals
Spain 6 Russia 2, Canada 7 Norway 3.

Gold Medal Match - Canada v Spain
Bronze Medal Match - Norway v Russia
These matches won't be starting for another hour, not finishing until well after my bedtime.