World Champions Team Mouat marked their skip’s 29th birthday in style when they claimed the Euro Super Series (ESS) title on their home ice at Stirling’s National Curling Academy (NCA) with a powerful comeback in the final against their closest domestic rivals. 
Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan found themselves up against familiar foes on decision day, kicking off with a semi-final against fellow Scots Team Bryce, who had shown fine early season form in reaching the final at the Baden Masters the previous weekend.
A 6-4 victory set up a meeting with British Curling colleagues Team Whyte, who had maintained their 100 per cent record at the event with a 6-3 defeat of the USA’s Team Dropkin.
Also ranked in the world’s top 10, Ross Whyte, Robin Brydone, Duncan McFadzean and Euan Kyle started with the hammer and took full advantage, claiming their two at the opening end, then stealing at the next.
A three at the next levelled the match, however and it was tight over the next three ends as they forced one another to singles, leaving Whyte 5-4 ahead, before Mouat’s men edged into the lead for the first time with a two at the seventh before stealing another two at the last to claim the title.
“A very good performance in the final was a very nice birthday present I suppose,” Mouat said afterwards.
“We’ve not played the ESS for a while and it’s always tough when you’ve got so many talented Scottish teams and a lot of quality European teams also come over.
“But we love to play in high standard events and we had to grind all weekend to get to the final, but we managed to do that and cross the line.”
The victory helped justify their decision not to make their customary start to the season by heading to Switzerland to contest The Baden Masters.
““I think starting our season here was the right decision for us,” said Mouat.
“We’ve worked pretty hard to get our world ranking high, so we didn’t need to chase the start of the season, so getting things underway in the NCA just felt right to us.
“I’m glad we did that and managed to get a week off last week to really focus on our performance for this weekend, which has obviously paid off for us.”
As they look to build on two exceptional seasons that have seen them win, then successfully defend the European Championship title, reach the Olympic final and become the first Scottish men to win The Pinty’s Cup for the best performance at Canada’s prestigious Grand Slam tournaments ahead of winning that world title, it was an ideal start to the season.
“It was very important for us to put down a marker this weekend,” Mouat reckoned.
“The season that we’ve got planned is pretty tough. 
“We’ve obviously set some pretty high standard goals for ourselves on the back of a World Championship winning season, so to start 2023/24 with a win at the NCA is pretty special for us.”
Their next competitive outings will now be back across the Atlantic where they won their world title in April.
“We’re now excited to go on to our first Canadian event of the season in two weeks time,” said Mouat.
“We’re going to the Oakville Stu Sells Tankard and then the Shorty Jenkins Classic, which is a great event in Cornwall, Ontario.
“Those will be two very good events, plus a week of training, so we’re looking forward to going over there and playing in front of some fans that love the sport.”
ESS 2023 finalists:
Team Mouat
Bruce Mouat
Grant Hardie
Bobby Lammie
Hammy McMillan
Team Whyte
Ross Whyte
Robin Brydone
Duncan McFadyen
Euan Kyle
Results:
Draw 1
Whyte – Humber College/Dobson 9-4
Gosgens – Ramsfjell 7-2
Hoesli – Bryce 2-9
Brunner – Kapp 7-4
Draw 2
JCraik – Schnider 7-4
Waddell – Stocker 7-6 (EE)
Nyman – Mouat 3-8
Carson – Dropkin 2-7
Draw 3
Ramsfjell – Thomson 7-1
Kapp – Whyte 7-8
Harstad - Brunner 2-8
Bryce – Gosgens 9-4
Draw 4
Stocker – RCraik 9-3
Dropkin – Craik 3-9
Hostmaelingen – Carson 7-4
Mouat – Waddell 10-3
Draw 5
Gosgens – Hoesli 3-8
Thomson – Bryce 1-9
Humber College/Dobson – Kapp 7-8
Whyte – Haarstad 8-1
Draw 6
Waddell – Nyman 5-6
RCraik – Mouat 7-5
Schinder – Dropkin 2-7
Craik – Hoatmaelingen 5-7
Draw 7
Brunner – Whyte 6-7
Harstad – Humber College/Dobson 8-4
Bryce – Ramsfjell 9-7
Hoesli – Thomson 7-3
Draw 8
Carson – Craik 3-7
Hostmaelingen – Schnider 2-6
Mouat – Stocker 6-4
Nyman – Rcraik 7-4
Draw 9
Kapp – Harstad 7-2
Ramsfjell – Hoesli 6-2
Thomson – Gosgens 2-5
Humber College/Dobson – Brunner 3-8
Draw 10
Dropkin – Hostmaelingen 6-2
Stocker – Nyman 7-6
RCraik – Waddell 5-6
Schnider – Carson 4-7
Draw 11
Quarter Finals
Whyte – Waddell 7-5
Dropkin – Brunner 9-4
Craik – Mouat 5-8
Bryce – Hostmaelingen 7-1
Draw 12
Semi Finals
Whyte – Dropkin 6-3
Mouat – Bryce 6-4
Draw 13
FINAL
Whyte – Mouat 5-8
Watch replays on the British Curling @RecastTV channel.
Curling Zone Line scores.
We are keen to hear from anyone who would like to volunteer at our British Curling international events that we will stage at the National Curling Academy in the 2023-24 season. Please get in touch: events@britishcurling.org.uk
#curling #ESS2023
