Having come through the round-robin stages of their respective competitions unbeaten Teams Morrison and Mouat duly won their page play-off matches to secure places in the final at the Scottish Curling Championships in Dumfries.
In the women’s event defending champions and European Championship bronze medallists Rebecca Morrison, Gina Aitken, Sophie Sinclair and Sophie Jackson seized control of their meeting with Team Young early on when, after they were forced at the opening end, they stole at the next.
After forcing their opponents at the third end, they then secured a two at the fourth to move 4-1 ahead and while Lesley Young, Jennifer Marshall, Eilidh Yeats and Rachael Dakers battled gamely to the end, a three at the eighth end, which put them 8-4 clear, allowed Morrison’s quartet to manage the scoreboard in wrapping things up 8-4. 
“We were always up in the game and we controlled the game after we got the steal before the three in end eight cemented it for us,” said Morrison.
“I’m so pleased with how the team has been playing throughout the round-robin. We’ve had some great stats and great numbers on the board.
“We couldn’t have asked for much more. It’s probably been one of our highest quality weeks of play so far, so we’re just delighted with that.
“It is a new competition going into the play-offs and you have to look at it like that, but overall there was a lot of confidence throughout the team going into that game.”
The victory in that meeting with the team that ran them closest in the round-robin section, means they can relax and wait to see whether Young or Team Blair prevail in tonight’s semi-final, ahead of the final.
“We appreciate having the evening off. We had the same situation last year and it didn’t hurt us being off for the night,” said Morrison.
“We just need to focus on ourselves going into the final. If we play like we’ve been going we should do well tomorrow.” 
In the men’s event there was a repeat of the final match of the round-robin in which Mouat’s men had beaten the other Scottish team that is currently in the top 10 in the world rankings, Team Whyte to secure top spot.
While they had dominated the previous evening’s encounter from the off, European champions Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan, were pushed harder in the early stages as they were forced at the opening end before falling behind on conceding a two at the next.
They responded immediately at the next, Mouat narrowly failing with a chance to secure a three, but still securing the two to nudge his team back in front and they took control after the midway break to run out 8-5 winners over Ross Whyte, Robin Brydone, Duncan McFadzean and Euan Kyle.
“All these games against Ross and his team are tough,” said Mouat.
“We just had to come out and try to shoot as well as we did yesterday.
“We probably started off a little slower and didn’t get the jump by getting the two at the first end, which we did yesterday to let us control the game, so we had to fight a wee bit in the first half, but in the second half we played really well.” 
Mouat reckoned it would be difficult to pick a winner between this morning’s opponents and the team skipped by reigning World Junior Champion James Craik in tonight’s semi-final, but is looking forward to the final either way.
“It’s going to be a tough game for both of them tonight,” he said.
“Whoever plays better will win and I know that’s a bit of a cliché, but both are very good teams and have had success this season, so we’re excited to see who we’ll be up against tomorrow.”
His own team is looking for their fourth win in their last four appearances at the event, having missed out on last year’s because they were returning home from Olympic duty in Beijing when the championships got underway.
“It’s great being back at the Scottish,” said Mouat. 
“It’s probably one of the competitions you look forward to most in the season. We’ve had a lot of fun playing them in the past, even those before we started to win.
“You learn a lot from these championships and it’s great to see the development of the event.
“We’re now playing in an arena in front of family and friends and fans and we’re over the moon to be back, so hopefully we can get that win tomorrow and a fourth championship.
“It would mean a lot. We’d love to go back to a World Championship and we think that would definitely secure our spot. It’s been a long time waiting for that.”
Please click here to Scottish Curling for the draw and live results as well as links to streamed games on the Recast platform.
Images: WCF/Celine Stucki, Anil Mungal @photovagrant, Jack Hodgetts, Wataru Yamagishi.