EVE MUIRHEAD described her team’s rocky qualification process as a “blessing in disguise” after leading Team GB to a second straight win in the curling round-robin phase at the Winter Olympics.

Muirhead’s side lost two of their first three matches but successive wins over the US and Denmark have lifted them to third in the standings, with the top four to qualify for the semi-finals.

Muirhead said: “I do think that having the Olympic qualifying was maybe a little bit of a blessing in disguise because it did give us that extra high-quality competition against some of the teams that are here.