A stunning triple takeout by Scottish skip Bruce Mouat at the eighth end of their semi-final against Italy took his team into their third final in three appearances at the Le Gruyere European Championships.
Euro winners on both previous occasions, they had begun the day facing the same opponents who had, at that point, gone through the competition unbeaten, in the final match of the round-robin stages and a hard fought 7-5 win crucially meant that when they met again in the semi-final, the Scots had the hammer.
That allowed them to maintain the upper hand through another tense battle to the midway stage of that match, Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan taking a 2-1 lead into the interval.
The pressure seemed to tell on Italian skip Joel Retornaz when he was heavy with his first draw as he sought to capitalise on a promising situation at the sixth end, then over-compensated with his next to allow the Scots to steal.
Mouat then made two rare back-to-back errors of his own, missing an attempted takeout to allow Retornaz to register a two and level the match at the seventh end, then throwing his first shot at the eighth through the head, but when Retornaz’s draw then left him a small but inviting target, he seized on it to deliver that decisive blow.
“We were a wee bit fortunate that we got that shot at the eighth,” Mouat admitted, after the Italians shook hands when they could only score a single to reduce the leeway to 7-4 at the ninth end.
“I thought I was going to have to draw the pin against two, but when you get those opportunities in big games like this you’ve got to take them and we were really pleased that it came off with a four.
“It felt like we had won the game at that point, but we obviously had to keep on playing.”
It was one of many crucial shots played at vital moments by all four Scottish players and Mouat reckons that is the benefit of playing so many intense matches in championship and Grand Slam matches in recent seasons.
“Being able to produce those key shots at the key moments is down to experience mostly, just having the understanding of what the pressure feels like at those points,” he said.
“It’s really good to be able to make shots like that when it matters in semi-final situations.”
After a slow start to the season, partly caused by the broken hand suffered by Lammie back in September, the winners of last season’s Pinty’s Cup in Canada as the most consistent performers on the prestigious Grand Slam circuit are keen to send out a message that they are back to their best by retaining the title they won last year, as well as on their only previous appearance at the Europeans in 2018.
“Now we’re really excited to go for our third European gold in our third appearance here,” said Mouat.
“It feels like we’re playing well enough to win, but we’re going to have to put the game together to be able to get it. 
“The season that we’ve had so far it would be great to come out firing and prove ourselves again on the European field and hopefully teams across the world will be watching.”
Scotland now get a day off before they meet either hosts Sweden or Switzerland who meet one another in tomorrow’s second semi final.
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).
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 & Results:
After Round robin:
Team Mouat 8W1L
Team Morrison 5W4L
Friday 18 November 
Women – session 1
Scotland v Turkiye 9-6
Saturday 19 November
Men – session 1
Scotland v Germany 6-4 (EE)
Women – session 2
Scotland v Latvia 7-4
Men - session 2
Scotland v Spain 10-4
Sunday 20 November
Women – session 3
Scotland v Italy 4-10
Men – session 3
Scotland v Sweden 8-7
Women – session 4
Scotland v Denmark 6-11
Monday 21 November
Men – session 4
Scotland v Czech Republic 11-6
Women – session 5
Scotland v Sweden 7-5
Men – session 5
Scotland v Turkiye 10-4
Women – session 6
Scotland v Germany 3-9
Tuesday 22 November
Men session 6
Scotland v Denmark 7-4
Women session 7
Scotland v Switzerland 3-9
Men session 7 - Qualified
Scotland v Norway 8-1
Wednesday 23 November
Women session 8
Scotland v Hungary 10-1
Men session 8
Scotland v Switzerland 2-7
Women session 9 - Qualified
Scotland v Norway 8-6
Thursday 24 November
Men session
Scotland v Italy 7-5
Women semi final 1 –Italy v Switzerland 5-9
Women semi final 2 – Scotland v Denmark 3-11
Men semi final 1- Scotland v Italy 7-4
Friday 25 November
Men semi final 2 – Switzerland v Sweden 09.00/08.00 GMT (broadcast game)*
Women bronze medal game – Scotland v Italy 14.00/13.00 GMT(broadcast game)*
Men bronze medal game – Italy v TBC 19.00/18.00 GMT(broadcast game)*
Saturday 26 November
Women gold medal game – Switzerland v Denmark 09.00/08.00 GMT(broadcast game)*
Men gold medal game Scotland v TBC 13.00/12.00 GMT(broadcast game)*
Images: WCF / Celine Stucki & Ansis Ventins
