Defending champions Team Mouat will face high class Swiss opposition in the semi-finals as they seek to complete the defence of their Euro Super Series (ESS) title on home ice, while two of their domestic rivals face off in the other half of the draw.
Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan have made a perfect start to the season to this point, winning all 12 matches they have played so far in becoming the first Scots to win the Baden Masters in Switzerland last weekend, then continuing that form into this week at the National Curling Academy in Stirling.
It is a run that has reminded their skip of the way they set out together seven years ago when they immediately set the standard that has taken them to the very top of the sport as 2023 World Champions and 2022 Olympic finalists.
“In the first year we all played together we had 14 straight wins at Oakville in 2017 when we had two back to back 7 game wins," Mouat recalled.
"I think we got to that stage that year when we had that breakthrough and I think we surprised a lot of people and possibly also ourselves as we were such a new team and had never really played together.
"We have kept that trend and that belief since then and we are now in the fortunate position that whoever we come up against we always go into the game feeling confident and we are going to try and continue this throughout this season because it is so important, so whoever we play tomorrow we are going to have to play well because you can never have slack games at the top level.”
One of only two teams to go through the qualifying stages with a 100 per cent record at the ESS, they were made to work for their quarter-final victory against the USA's Team Dropkin, but a perfectly weighted double takeout with Mouat's last stone of the match secured the 6-3 win that took them into a semi-final meeting with Switzerland's Team Brunner, who came through with a 9-4 defeat of Scotland's Team Craik.
“We had a pretty good quarter-final game with a solid start before we then lost our way a wee bit in the seventh and eighth end, but it was nice to continue this winning streak we have got this far and hopefully it continues tomorrow," said the skip.
"We potentially have two tough games, so we are just riding the wave right now and will try and continue what we are doing."
If they can defeat Brunner's men they know they will face very familiar foes since both Scottish teams who meet in the other semi-final are skipped by players who have claimed major championship gold medals as alternates for Team Mouat in Ross Whyte and Kyle Waddell.
Whyte, Robin Brydone, Duncan McFadzean and Euan Kyle were the other men to come through the round-robin stages unbeaten and they continued to impress as they overcame the Netherlands' Team Gosgens in their quarter-final.
“We have played really well this week, the ice has suited us and we are making a lot of shots here so hopefully we can continue that onto the semi finals tomorrow," said Ross Whyte.
“We always enjoy playing Team Waddell and they are good mates of ours and it is always a tough game when we play against them so we look forward to the challenge and it will be a nice early start for both of us and both on home ice so no real advantage for either team so that should make for a pretty exciting semi final.” 
By contrast, Waddell was by no means happy with the way that he, younger brother Craig and teammates Mark Taylor and Gavin Barr started the event, but they have improved as it has gone on, claiming an impressive 6-3 win over the USA's Team Casper in their quarter-final.
“We had a pretty poor start to this competition and probably played the worst game of curling in a long time so we gave ourselves a bit of a talking to and managed to play a bit better as a result,” said Waddell.
"We played pretty well in our quarter-final, so I am looking forward to the all Scottish semi final.
"We always enjoy playing against the Scottish teams so I am sure it will be a good game.
"The way we have performed has given us a bit of a realisation that we have to concentrate on ourselves and not the team we are playing against and if we commit to that and all the processes and all the boring stuff then we can produce a good enough performance to beat anybody on our day, so it's been a good thing and a bad thing to have those mixed results.
"I don’t like losing games but I will take it if it means we can produce results.”
An all Scottish final is also on the cards in the women’s event, after Team Henderson knocked out defending champions Team Strouse to earn a semi final meeting with Canada’s Team MacMillan. Rebecca Morrison, the skip who won the inaugural ESS three years ago had already earned her place in the semi final, by, like MacMillan, finishing top of her pool with a 100% record. She meet’s Italian quartet skipped by Olympic mixed doubles champion Stefania Constantini in their semi final, which gets underway at 8.30am in the morning.
Every ESS game is being live streamed 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
Euro Super Series Men’s Semi Finals – Sunday 8.30am:
Whyte – Waddell
Mouat – Brunner
Euro Super Series Women’s Semi Finals – Sunday 8.30am:
Morrison - Constantini
MacMillan - Henderson
