Scotland’s women shook off opening night nerves to claim a confidence boosting win as they got their Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championship bid underway at the Oestersund Arena in Sweden.
Defending the title that was won by compatriots Team Muirhead a year ago, Team Morrison took time to find their rhythm on their first appearance at the event together and fell 5-2 behind after four ends to their opponents Turkey. 
However, a two at the fifth end got them back into contention ahead of the midway break and after a solid team talk they powered to victory in the closing stages, running out 9-6 winners.
“We had a bit of a rough start out there,” admitted skip Rebecca Morrison.
“We just weren’t quite putting all the shots together in the way that we’d like to, but we had a great fifth end break and talked about why we weren’t doing that and we really came back firing to bring it back in the second half.”
She was particularly pleased with the composure she and colleagues Gina Aitken, Sophie Sinclair and Sophie Jackson were able to demonstrate under pressure and she believes that should set them up well for the rest of the event.
“It’s really great to see that we can stick in when we’re facing situations like that and can keep in it when we’re so far down, so that’s something that we’re going to carry with us into the rest of the week,” said Morrison.
The game’s key moment saw the skip raise an opposition stone from outside the rings onto one of her own, which then promoted another Scottish stone to remove the Turkish stone that was sitting on the button.
Rival skip Dilsat Yildiz then produced a fine promotion of her own to take out two Scottish stones, but a draw onto the back edge of the button left Morrison with a well guarded shot and Yildiz failed with an ambitious attempt at a double take-out. 
Further pressure was applied at the next end and when Yildiz’s final stone sailed through the back of the house, the Scots had stolen another two to claim that decisive 9-6 advantage that they maintained with solid play before hands were shaken when the Turks ran out of stones at the final end.
“The steal in the eighth end was great,” said Morrison.
“I said to Gina just before we got it that a steal there would be such a game changer and when we did we felt that was us in control.
“That was a great turning point and then we saw what happened at the ninth end and we were just so much more in control than in the first half.”
Next up they face Latvia who suffered a heavy10-2 defeat to world champions Switzerland and Morrison now feels her team has settled in and is ready for the challenges ahead, saying: “It feels great to have the Europeans underway now and to get over those first game nerves.
“It was a big moment for me and it was great to have it done now and we can continue with the rest of the week in a very confident manner.”
The European Championships qualify teams for next year’s World Curling Championships with the women’s event (LGT World Women’s Curling Championship 2023) also taking place in Sweden in March (18-26 March) and the men’s event (BKT Tires & OK Tire World Men’s Curling Championship) in Ottawa in April (1-9 April).
Scotland’s men open their campaign against Germany and also face Spain on the second day of action.
Men’s teams: Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Norway, Scotland, Spain (replacing Russia), Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.
Women’s teams: Denmark, Germany, Hungary (replacing Russia), Italy, Latvia, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.
Team Mouat
Bruce Mouat
Grant Hardie
BobbyLammie
Hammy McMillan
Kyle Waddell (alternate)
Coach: Michael Goodfellow
Team Morrison
Rebecca Morrison
Gina Aitken
Sophie Sinclair
Sophie Jackson
Hailey Duff (alternate)
Coach: Nancy Smith
WCF European Champs
Schedule:
Friday 18 November
Women – session 1
Scotland v Turkey 9-6
Saturday 19 November
Men – session 1 09.00 /08.00 GMT
Scotland v Germany
Women – session 2 14.00/13.00 GMT
Scotland v Latvia
Men - session 2 19.00/18.00 GMT
Scotland v Spain
Sunday 20 November
Women – session 3 – 09.00/08.00 GMT
Scotland v Italy
Men – session 3 – 14.00/13.00 GMT
Scotland v Sweden (broadcast game)*
Women – session 4 – 19.00/18.00 GMT
Scotland v Denmark
Monday 21 November
Men – session 4 – 08.00/07.00 GMT
Scotland v Czech Republic
Women – session 5 – 12.00/11.00 GMT
Scotland v Sweden
Men – session 5 -16.00/15.00 GMT
Scotland v Turkey
Women – session 6 – 20.00/19.00 GMT
Scotland v Germany
Tuesday 22 November
Men session 6 – 09.00/08.00 GMT
Scotland v Denmark
Women session 7 – 14.00/13.00 GMT
Scotland v Switzerland (broadcast game)*
Men session 7 – 19.00/18.00 GMT
Scotland v Norway
Wednesday 23 November
Women session 8 – 09.00/08.00 GMT
Scotland v Hungary
Men session 8 – 14.00/13.00 GMT
Scotland v Switzerland (broadcast game)*
Women session 9 – 19.00/18.00 GMT
Scotland v Norway
Thursday 24 November
Men session 9 – 08.00/07.00 GMT
Scotland v Italy
Women semi final 1 – 12.00/11.00 GMT (broadcast game)*
Women semi final 2 – 16.00/15.00 GMT (broadcast game)*
Men semi final 1- 20.00/19.00 GMT (broadcast game)*
Friday 25 November
Men semi final 2 – 09.00/08.00 GMT (broadcast game)*
Women bronze medal game – 14.00/13.00 GMT(broadcast game)*
Men bronze medal game – 19.00/18.00 GMT(broadcast game)*
Saturday 26 November
Women gold medal game 09.00/08.00 GMT(broadcast game)*
Men gold medal game 13.00/12.00 GMT(broadcast game)*
Images: WCF/Celine Stucki & Ansis Ventins 