Scotland secured first place in the standings at the Le Gruyere AOP European Championships, but they were made to fight all the way by Sweden’s seven time champions Team Edin before securing an 11-7 win in their final round-robin match.
World number one ranked Team Mouat had gone into the last round in that top spot as the only team assured of qualification for the play-offs, but the intensity of the competition was highlighted by the fact that their opponents could go past them if they won the match, but were likely to be eliminated if they did not.
The pressure looked to be telling on Niklas Edin, the Swedish skip who has also led his team to seven World titles and the 2022 Olympic title, as he twice came up short with crucial draws at the second and fifth ends to allow the Scots to surge into a 7-2 lead by the midway break.
However, he and his teammates demonstrated their class as they powered back into the match and, while Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan had to work hard to protect their lead, they remained composed throughout to take an 8-7 lead and last stone advantage into the final end.
Even then the drama was not over, but with three of their yellow stones surrounding the button, they ensured they had options available as Edin made his final attempt which ran through the four foot rings and meant Mouat did not have to throw his own last stone.
“We always knew that one was going to be a tough one,” said the Scottish skip.
“Getting a jump early on in a ten end game doesn’t always fill you with that much confidence and we knew that they were going to fight back and we had to make some big shots just to keep our noses in front.”
The ferocity of the competition for play-off places, resulted in Italy - who began this season in the number one spot in the world rankings that Mouat’s men have now claimed and were the only team to beat the Scots in the round-robin - joining Sweden in missing out on the semi-finals.
As Mouat acknowledged, that serves to underline just how strong the sport currently is on this side of the Atlantic. 
“It’s probably a bit of a shock that the Swedes and the Italians didn’t make the semi finals,” Mouat observed.
“It must be a while since Nik (Edin) hasn’t made the semis.
“I don’t remember any time I have been watching when that has happened, but that is just showing you the class of the European field right now.”
Wins for Germany over England and Norway over Czechia took them into the semi-finals, where they will meet one another, while the last semi-final place was claimed by Switzerland after they beat Italy in a winner-take-all encounter at the end of the round-robin.
“It is nice to go into the semi finals having the hammer and we have got a tough game against the Swiss,” said Mouat.
“We had an extra end game against them in the round robin so we know that we will have to come out tomorrow and play well and try and use the hammer to our advantage.”
Please click here for more information and results.
The Scotland play-off games will be live streamed on the BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport Scotland website.
Watch on BBC Sport Scotland website.
Scotland schedule & results:
Saturday 16 November
Session 1 – women
Scotland – Sweden 5-8
Session 1 – men
Scotland – Netherlands 8-6
Session 2 – women
Scotland – Denmark 11-9 (EE)
Sunday 17 November
Session 2 – men
Scotland – Norway 6-5
Session 3 – women
Scotland – Switzerland 1-8
Session 3 – men
Scotland – England 8-1
Monday 18 November
Session 4 – women
Scotland – Turkiye 4-5
Session 4 – men
Scotland – Switzerland 7-6
Session 5 – women
Scotland – Hungary 9-3
Session 5 – men
Scotland – Austria 10-2
Tuesday 19 November
Session 6 – women
Scotland – Estonia 8-1
Session 6 – men
Scotland – Italy 7-10
Session 7 – women
Scotland – Lithuania 9-2
Wednesday 20 November
Session 7 – men
Scotland – Germany 12-5
Session 8 – women
Scotland – Italy 9-5
Session 8 – men
Scotland – Czechia 10-2
Thursday 21 November
Session 9 – women
Scotland – Norway 5-4
Session 9 – men
Scotland – Sweden 11-7
Semi Finals – women – 17.00
Scotland – Sweden
Switzerland - Italy
Friday 22 November
Semi Finals – men – 07.00
Scotland – Switzerland
Germany - Norway
Bronze medal game – women – 12.00
Bronze medal game – men – 17.00
Saturday 23 November
Gold medal game – women – 08.00
Gold medal game – men – 13.00
Image: World Curling
