World Champions Team Mouat claimed clear top spot in the standings as they emerged from the second day of the Le Gruyère AOP European Curling Championships with the only 100 per cent record in either the men’s or women’s event.
Setting out against Czech opponents who had previously earned the full respect of Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan, they had to go to the last of the scheduled 10 ends before registering the four which secured a 10-5 win, before they then defeated Austria 7-4 in nine ends to make it a two-win day.
“That was a good day with games we felt like we were in control of for the most of it,” said skip Mouat.
“We were very happy to get over the line with the Czechia game this morning because they are a tough team who beat us in the round-robin at the Worlds last year, so we knew we were going to have to perform pretty well and are glad we got over the line. 
“The Austria game then felt like we were in complete control after getting off to a 4-0 lead early on and we kept that throughout the game.”
Growing ever more comfortable with conditions in the Kisakallio Sports Institute in the Finnish town of Lohja, the Scots have two more games on the third day of action, including a meeting with the team that ran them closest in both the World Championships and world rankings last season.
“The ice has settled in today which is good and there are a lot of shots being made across the board,” said Mouat.
“We have got tough games tomorrow with Denmark and Switzerland and we are going to have to play two good games to get those two wins.
“It is very early days but after tomorrow we will be more than halfway through the round robin so we will probably have a better idea of where we might end up.
“We are definitely going into tomorrow with positive vibes, looking for two wins to keep us at the top of the standings and looking forward to playing the Swiss again.
“We have played them a lot over the last two years so we know it will be a tough game and we always enjoy those kind of atmospheres that both of our teams bring to the game.
“There should be a lot of good shots.”
In the women’s event Rebecca Morrison, Jen Dodds, Sophie Jackson and Sophie Sinclair meanwhile claimed their first victory of the competition that has immediately got them right back into the mix, beating Denmark’s 2022 European Champions, who had won both their matches on the opening day.
The Scottish quartet had the upper hand from the outset, winning the pre-match last stone draw to have the hammer (last stone advantage) at the opening end and after claiming the lead, they stole two at the next and another one at the third end to establish a commanding 4-0 lead.
The Danes briefly threatened a comeback when, after getting on the scoreboard at the fourth end, they stole at the fifth to get within two shots at the midway stage, but the Scots matched that over the next two ends to re-establish the four shot advantage which they retained to the end in winning 8-4.
“We’ve said in the last couple of games when we’ve had it against us, that hammer is key, so it was nice to have that going into the first half of the game,” said skip Jackson.
“Denmark can be a really strong team and we’ve had a lot of close games with them in the past, so it could have gone either way, but it was a great team performance from the draw shot onwards.”
With all bar one of the 10 teams in the women’s competition having registered at least one win, but none having won all three matches, it looks an extremely open event and Jackson is confident that the Scots, who claimed bronze at last year’s Euros, can kick on as they prepare to meet Italy and Lithuania on day three.
“There’s been a couple of games go ways that we didn’t expect and we’re early in the event with only three games down,” she observed.
“We’re on the same win and loss record as we were at this point last year, so that’s super positive, because we know that we finished the tournament strong a year ago and we’ll be hoping to do that again, looking to hold onto this momentum that we’ve built now.
“We’re a real confidence team and we drag each other forward and bounce off each other when we’re feeling good about the way we’re throwing it and the shots we’re making out there, so we’ll keep a hold of that and try to stay positive heading into a two game day tomorrow.”
Follow the results here
Watch live games on The Curling Channel
Selected games will be available on the BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport online, as follows:
Scotland men v Switzerland (Monday)
Scotland women v Norway (Wednesday)
Scotland men v Sweden (Wednesday)
Scotland men v Italy (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)
Image: Scottish Curling