A shot at the final end brought victory for Aku Kauste's Finnish rink over that led by David Sik of the Czech Republic yesterday at the end of a disappointing weekend for the home teams in the Edinburgh International tournament at Murrayfield.

David Edwards, whose surprise win at last month's domestic play-downs means his men will represent Scotland at the forthcoming European Championships, had gone into the event defending the title but they did not make it through to the knockout stages this time.

With David Murdoch's Olympic silver medallists competing in Canada, the GB programme's other two full-time funded men's rinks, skipped by Tom Brewster and Kyle Smith, both made it to the quarter-finals but were beaten at that stage while Stuart Taylor's youthful quartet, who also get some support from the system, were the last Scots involved, losing in the semi-finals.

The way the weekend panned out only underlined some of the lessons already absorbed by Graeme Thompson, the GB Curling head of performance who was recruited this season to help find ways of improving on this year's Olympic and Paralympic tournaments where all three British rinks won medals.

Moving into a sport where Scotland has traditionally done better than most - having previously worked in sports where physicality is more obviously a factor, including both rugby codes and water polo - he admits there are different challenges.

"It probably has a greater unpredictability than other sports I've been in and I'm learning why that is," said Thompson. "What I'm seeing is that there are a lot of different things that influence things, in particular ice conditions, but the best teams have to deal with that."

In consulting with players past and present as well as those with good knowledge of the sport, the GB programme and the curling community, he has been made aware, sometimes diplomatically, sometimes bluntly, about the questions being asked regarding the benefits of treating curlers as "athletes".

While there are clearly mental as well as physical benefits to fitness in most walks of life he understands that and, in seeking to find ways of turning silvers and bronzes into golds on a regular basis, he is looking to tweak things accordingly.

"In terms of the programme it's about where do we seek to create competitive advantage, particularly for Scotland and Great Britain on the world stage," said Thompson.

He also believes the Edinburgh tournament offered further evidence of the improving health of the domestic game. "Taylor doing well was good and Bruce Mouat, who skips another young rink we support, beat Brewster on a final stone. That level of competition is extremely healthy," Thompson added.