World number one Team Mouat’s extraordinary run of victories against the top teams in the sport has ended with defeat at the hands of the team they removed from the top of the rankings, but only after their encounter went into extra time at the Le Gruyere AOP European Championships in Finland.
No more than a shot separated the teams at any stage until the final stone of a high quality match in which momentum repeatedly swung between the teams, but Italy’s Team Retornaz gained the upper hand at the vital stage when, leading 7-6, they prevented the Scots from scoring any more than one, earning them last stone advantage at the extra end.
Forced to go for broke, Scottish skip Bruce Mouat left opposite number Joel Retornaz with a testing takeout for the win, but he executed it perfectly to score three and secure a 10-7 win.
“We’re a little disappointed not to have seen that game through,” said Mouat. 
“We felt like we put ourselves in some good spots with taking two in six and eight to get the lead and then had a shot at nine to put them under some pressure, so it was unfortunate not to make that.”
It was a result which ended a run of 18 consecutive match wins that has seen Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan win back-to-back titles in the prestigious Grand Slam of Curling series at the Tour Challenge and the Canadian Open, before passing the halfway mark at the Europeans as the only unbeaten team.
The loss now draws them back into the pack, level with Italy and tomorrow’s first opponents Germany on a record of five wins and one loss, but the Scottish skip was able to reflect on the way they have been performing, while also looking towards a challenging schedule over the next two days as they battle to secure their place in the play-offs.
“It’s been a good run over the past couple of months and we feel like we’ve been in control over a lot of the games,” said Mouat.
“We obviously knew it was never going to last forever, but it’s pretty tough going to remain that consistent, so we’re very proud of all the work we’ve put in to put that run together.
“However, we’ve still got three tough games against the Germans, the Czechs and the Swedes who all look like they’re playing well, so we’re probably going to have to come out and play some good curling to have a chance of winning those.”
They play both Germany and the Czech Republic on the penultimate day of round-robin play, before facing Sweden’s seven time World and seven time European champions Team Edin in the final round the following day.
Please click here for more information and results.
The following 7 round robin games will be live streamed on the BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport Scotland website (plus play-off games subject to Scotland qualifying).
Watch on BBC Sport Scotland website
Sat, 16 Nov
17:30 (UK)
Sco v Den (Women)
Sun, 17 Nov
12:00 (UK)
Sco v Sui (Women)
Mon 18 Nov
10:00 (UK)
Sco v Sui (Men)
Tues, 19 Nov
12:00 (UK)
Sco v Ita (men)
Tues, 19 Nov
17:00 (UK)
Ltu v Sco (Women)
Wed 20 Nov
12:00
Sco v Ita (women)
Thurs, 21 Nov
12:00
Swe v Sco (men)
Scotland Schedule:
Saturday 16 November
Session 1 – women
Scotland – Sweden 5-8
Session 1 – men
Scotland – Netherlands 8-6
Session 2 – women
Scotland – Denmark 11-9 (EE)
Sunday 17 November
Session 2 – men
Scotland – Norway 6-5
Session 3 – women
Scotland – Switzerland 1-8
Session 3 – men
Scotland – England 8-1
Monday 18 November
Session 4 – women
Scotland – Turkiye 4-5
Session 4 – men
Scotland – Switzerland 7-6
Session 5 – women
Scotland – Hungary 9-3
Session 5 – men
Scotland – Austria 10-2
Tuesday 19 November
Session 6 – women
Scotland – Estonia 8-1
Session 6 – men
Scotland – Italy 7-10
Session 7 – women
Scotland - Lithuania
Wednesday 20 November
Session 7 – men – 07.00
Scotland – Germany
Session 8 – women – 12.00
Scotland – Italy
Session 8 – men – 17.00
Scotland – Czechia
Thursday 21 November
Session 9 – women – 07.00
Scotland - Norway
Session 9 – men – 12.00
Scotland – Sweden
Semi Finals – women – 17.00
Friday 22 November
Semi Finals – men – 07.00
Bronze medal game – women – 12.00
Bronze medal game – men – 17.00
Saturday 23 November
Gold medal game – women – 08.00
Gold medal game – men – 13.00
Image: World Curling
