Home teams have celebrated success amid high class international company in both events at the Euro Super Series (ESS) in Stirling’s National Curling Academy.
For former World Champions Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan victory in the men’s event was a continuation of the form that had seen them get their season off to a flying start by becoming the first Scots ever to win the Baden Masters in Switzerland the previous weekend.
As they had done in the semi-final in Baden, the team that has finished the past two season ranked second in the world had to overcome their closest domestic rivals, world number five ranked Team Whyte, this time in the decisive match. 
Ross Whyte, Robin Brydone, Duncan McFadzean and Euan Kyle had gone into the ESS final with the hammer, having finished as top seeds on the basis of draw shot challenge, after matching Mouat’s men by going unbeaten through the round-robin stages.
The encounter was as tight as expected throughout, Team Mouat grabbing the initiative with a steal at the third end after the first two had been blanked, but the match remained in the balance until they stole again at the sixth where Whyte suffered an unfortunate ‘pick-up’ as the first of his stones struck some debris on the ice, affecting its path.
Team Whyte’s quality and resolve were in evidence as they battled back from that to claim the only two of the match and level the scores at the next, but that gave Mouat the advantage of final stone at the last and that proved decisive.
“It was a very tight game,” said Mouat, following his team’s successful title defence.
“We had to turn the hammer pretty early on and it took four ends to get that, but the big steal in the third end set us up with a wee bit more control of the game.
“We were obviously struggling without the hammer in the first couple of ends and managed to get some doubles to get out of it, so it was a big turn-around from the boys and we’re very proud of how we stuck together all weekend.”
The victory maintained their perfect start to the season that has seen them claim 14 wins in 14 matches, emulating the astonishing run that saw them announce themselves to the global game in their first season together seven years ago. 
“We’ve been playing really well at the start of this season and we’re really happy with where we’re at,” said Mouat.
“We’re not going to rest on the fact that we’ve been playing well, though. We’re going to put in a lot of work next week to try to iron out a few of the kinks that we’re seeing, but there’s not a lot because we are playing very well.
“It’s a long season and we’ve got to do a lot of good things this year to get where we want to be next and in two years time, so we’re going to be focused on coming back next week and training hard again.
“Things are definitely on track. The breakthrough year in 2017 was one of the highlights of my career, just really enjoyable.
“The Olympic season was obviously very enjoyable as well, but this season is very important to us.
“We know there’s a lot of really good Scottish talent coming through and we have to keep on proving that we’re still able to win major championships.
“To win Baden and to win the ESS on two weekends was exactly how we wanted to start the season and we’re very proud of how we’ve been doing it.
“We’ve been very clinical and a lot of hard work over the summer has led to that and we’re very happy with where we’re at.” 
Meanwhile, in the women’s event, a new-look five player women’s line-up of Fay Henderson, Robyn Munro, Hailey Duff, Lisa Davie and Katie McMillan produced a succession of outstanding performances in the knockout stages to claim a title on their first outing together.
They had suffered a convincing 6-1 defeat to Canada’s Team McMillan in the round-robin stages, but they demonstrated how quickly they have bonded with a 7-4 defeat of the same opponents in the final.
That followed dramatic wins over the USA’s defending champions Team Strouse in the quarter-finals and the world number nine ranked Italians skipped by Olympic mixed doubles gold medallist Stefania Constantini in the semis, in which the young Scots had been 6-4 down without the hammer playing the eighth end, only to take the match down an extra end and win it there.
“All in all it’s been a very good weekend,” said Henderson.
“Obviously as a new team we are not quite sure where we sit in the world rankings but this week we have proved that we can fight among those top 10 or top 15 teams and hopefully the points will help us to chase a spot higher as well, which would be very nice.
“Rotating between the five of us, we’ve shown that we can win a play-off game with every line-up, so we’ve got a lot more to come.
“To get our first win in the first event of the season is great and we couldn’t have asked for a better start.
“Rotating can be a little bit more of a challenge, but I think everyone who has come off and played the next game has definitely managed to step it up a level. 
“We’ve identified things if there’s anything missing and picked that up in amongst our role very well.”
Before claiming a first Scottish Women’s Curling Championships title earlier this year, Henderson had demonstrated her potential when she led Scotland to victory at last year’s World Junior Championships and she welcomed being reunited with Robyn Munro, her vice skip from that campaign.
“Keeping the consistency of me and Robyn has really worked,” she said.
“We’re definitely a good pair and the front three have made sure there was nothing missing, regardless of who’s playing.
“Back at the World Junior Championships we managed to prove how good we were together and now that we’ve had a bit of time apart and managed to step up our games being back together will take us from strength to strength.”
She also said the team had benefited greatly from the input of new coach Clancy Grandy, the Canadian who had, ironically, skipped the Team MacMillan line-up before retiring from playing at the end of last season.
“Clancy’s been great this weekend,” said Henderson.
“She knows exactly what we need to do which is reassuring and been very supportive. Especially as a skip she understands my position and just helps us keep our heads calm and switched on.”
Replays of the ESS games are available on Curling Stadium Europe.
Results from Curling Zone.
ESS Draw 1 Results:
Brunner – Ramsfjell 5-2
Mouat – Casper 5-3
ESS Draw 2 Results:
Dropkin – Chandler 4-2
Craik – McEwen 6-2
Waddell – Gosgens 4-6
Stocker – Whyte 2-7
ESS Draw 3 Results: 
Cousins – Strouse 1-8
Dryburgh – Morrison 1-8
MacMillan – Pfeugler 9-3
Watt – Constantini 4-6
ESS Draw 4 Results:
Brunner – Carson 10-1
Whyte – Dropkin 6-3
Bryce – Stocker 4-7
Casper – Ramsfjell 8-6
ESS Draw 5 Results:
McEwen – Haarstad 3-8
Morrison – Cousins 5-2
Laurie – Dryburgh 3-6
Gosgens – Craik 4-8
ESS Draw 6 Results:
Constantini – MacMillan 4-7
Henderson – Watt 5-2
Ramsfjell – Mouat 4-5
Carson – Casper 3-5
ESS Draw 7 Results:
Craik – Waddell 4-6
Haarstad – Gosgens 5-9
Chandler – Whyte 1-7
Dropkin – Bryce 2-8
ESS Draw 8 Results:
Pfleugler – Constantini 4-8
MacMillan – Henderson 8-1
Strouse – Morrison 3-6
Cousins – Laurie 7-4
Euro Super Series Draw 9 Results: 
Stocker – Dropkin 4-5 (EE)
Bryce – Chandler 7-3
Casper – Brunner 6-2
Mouat – Carson 10-3
Euro Super Series Draw 10 Results:
Dryburgh – Cousins 7-8
Laurie – Strouse 1-9
Gosgens – McEwen 4-8
Waddell – Haarstad 8-2
Euro Super Series Draw 11 Results:
Watt – MacMillan 5-6
Brunner – Mouat 3-6
Carson – Ramsfjell 5-8
Henderson – Pfleugler 7-4
Euro Super Series Draw 12 Results:
Whyte – Bryce 6-3
McEwen – Waddell 3-5
Haarstad –Craik 2-6
Chandler –Stocker 1-7
Euro Super Series Draw 13 Results:
Morrison – Laurie 5-2
Constantini – Henderson 9-6
Pfleugler – Watt 1-8
Strouse – Dryburgh 6-2
Euro Super Series Men’s Quarter Final Results:
Whyte – Gosgens 8-4
Mouat – Dropkin 5-3
Craik – Brunner 4-9
Casper – Waddell 3-6
Euro Super Series Women’s Quarter Final Results: 
Strouse – Henderson 5-6
Constantini – Cousins 5-2
Results:
Euro Super Series Men’s Semi Finals
Whyte – Waddell 9-3
Mouat – Brunner 7-5
Euro Super Series Women’s Semi Finals
Morrison – Constantini 5-6
MacMillan – Henderson (EE) 6-8
Euro Super Series Men’s Final
Whyte – Mouat – 3-4
Euro Super Series Women’s Final
Constantini – Henderson 4-7
