Scotland’s World Champions were made to test their capacity to deal with adversity when skip Bruce Mouat had to drop out of their meeting with Norway at the Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships in Lohja, but there was no loss of momentum as they registered a sixth successive win to stay top of the standings.
With Mouat taking ill overnight, it was left to vice skip Grant Hardie to fill the breach, while Bobby Lammie took on his role throwing third stones and alternate Kyle Waddell came into the line-up for the first time at this event to join lead Hammy McMillan in the front half of the team and they dealt with that reshuffle seamlessly.
Up against strong opposition in Norway in their only game of day four, they were made to battle to gain the ascendancy, but the decisive moment came in the ninth end, when Hardie killed the opposition’s chance of claiming the two that could have levelled the match with a stunning hit and roll behind cover that was worthy of his absent skipper. 
“You are used to seeing Bruce make those clutch hit and rolls and it was nice to be able to make that and getting the steal there just made us feel more comfortable,” he said of the shot which secured a steal that took them into a 7-4 lead, which was how the match finished as they ran the Norwegians out of stones at the last.
“They are very big shoes to fill because Bruce has been firing on all cylinders this week, so it was a bit of a shock to hear he wasn’t able to play today, but he should be ok tomorrow and we had a good opportunity to rest him and still come out with the win especially against those Norwegian boys.
“They are always tough opponents and they always run us close so if we had Bruce or not we knew it was going to be a tough game and we all made some big shots to get that one over the line.”
Just as happened earlier in the season when Mouat missed an event, the situation could ultimately prove useful as they look ahead to this season’s Winter Olympics, since it forced them into a change of plan, while also allowing Waddell some valuable time on the ice.
“Bringing Kyle in was a very easy fit,” said Hardie.
“Thankfully we had him in the line-up earlier in the year for a full competition and that also gave me a chance to skip and get the feeling of doing that again and just certainly helped me feel a lot more comfortable going back into that game, knowing that I have skipped and done well.
“Once we figured out where we were putting the brush for the guys, I think we all played really well, adjusted to our new roles including Bobby playing third this time, which he adjusted to very well.
“So, we’re very happy to come out with the win and hopefully Bruce is on the mend and we will get him back tomorrow.” 
Unbeaten as they are, the Scots know they will need to perform at a very high level in the last two days of the round-robin if they are to finish in the coveted top spot in the standings, ahead of the play-offs.
“Moving forward, obviously we have Sweden tomorrow night which is always going to be a challenge, but again from what we have seen the Polish team are playing really well, so a tough one in the morning before that.
“After that it will all be about where we can place ourselves for the play-offs with Sweden and Italy to finish, so it is nice to get tonight off to rest and recover.”
In the women’s event Scotland’s women suffered a setback in their bid to reach the knockout stages when they were beaten 8-3 by Switzerland, but once again, they responded well, winning with an identical scoreline against Czechia to maintain a chance of finishing the round-robin with a winning record.
“That was a good bounce back game from the disappointment of this morning,” said their third Jen Dodds.
“Going into that game tonight we just wanted to make sure we were working on the things we’d spoken about and to kinda have a more relaxed intensity to the game, which we showed coming out.
“We got forced at the third end, but then we got a really good steal of two at the fifth and it was more like our usual performances, which was good to see.
She acknowledged that the meeting with Switzerland had been disappointing, the defeat largely attributable to an uncharacteristic aberration at the fifth end when they lost a five.
“We had a good start with Becca making a really good shot to create a steal, but at the fifth end there were just a couple of tactical decisions and then not making our shots perfectly cost us that five,” said Dodds.
“Before that it had felt really good, but after losing a five you’re always on the back foot.”
They now meet familiar foes in Norway who are currently second placed in the standings, in their only match of day five, before they round off their round-robin campaign against Germany the following day.
“We still have two games to go, so our main focus just now is continuing the momentum that we created this evening into tomorrow’s game against Norway,” said Dodds. 
“They’re going to be a tough opponents because they’re playing really well this week, but we know that if we put in a performance we can have a good game with them and come out with the win, so we’re just going to try to take what we’ve been doing this evening into tomorrow.”
Watch live games on The Curling Channel
Selected games will be available on the BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport online, as follows:
Scotland women v Norway (12.00 GMT - Wednesday)
Scotland men v Sweden (17.00 GMT - Wednesday)
Scotland men v Italy (12.00 GMT - Thursday)
Team Mouat
Bruce Mouat (Skip)
Grant Hardie
Bobby Lammie
Hammy McMillan
Kyle Waddell (alternate)
Team Morrison
Rebecca Morrison
Jen Dodds
Sophie Sinclair
Sophie Jackson (Skip)
Fay Henderson (alternate)
Images: Scottish Curling
