[ritchiebaby]

After a two-year wait, the A Championships for both Men and Women return on Saturday 20 November and will be played in the Haakons Hall in Lillehammer, Norway. The Round-robin phase will end on Thursday 25 November, the same day as the Women's Semi-finals take place. On Friday 26 November the Men's Semi-finals will be played, followed by the Women's Bronze Medal game. The play on Saturday 27 November consists of the Men's Bronze Medal game, then the Gold/Silver Medal games for both Women and Men.

At these Championships, the top 4 teams will progress to the Semi-finals directly, where 1st plays 4th and then 2nd plays 3rd. Nice and simple, thank goodness!

The Women's Teams are Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Russia, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey. Scotland are represented by Eve Muirhead, Vicky Wright, Jen Dodds, Hailey Duff and Mili Smith, who open their campaign on 20 November against Russia, then Denmark, followed by Sweden on 21 November.

The Men's Teams are Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, Sweden and Switzerland. The Scotland Team is Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie, Hammy McMillan and Ross Whyte. Sweden are their first opponents on 20 November, then Finland and Italy on 21 November.

NOT ONLY BUT ALSO

The B Championships are running at the same time as the A Championships at the Lillehammer Youth Hall, not the youth club hut, but a modern purpose-built ice rink.

Men's Teams are coming from Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, England, Estonia, France, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey and Wales. The teams are split into 2 groups and both England and Wales are in Group A.

The England players are Andrew Woolston, Andrew Reed, Scott Gibson, James Whittle and alternate Thomas Jaeggi. Wales are represented by James Pougher, Rhys Phillips, Garry Coombs, Simon Pougher and alternate Martin Lloyd. On 20 November England play Austria and Wales play France, followed by England v Turkey and Wales v Slovenia on 21 November.

Women's Teams are representing Austria, England, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain. England play Lithuania on 20 November and Finland on 21 November and the English players are Hetty Garnier, Anna Fowler, Angharad Ward and Naomi Robinson.

Again the Round-robin games will end on 25 November, with the Men's Qualification and Relegation Games taking place on 26 November alongwith the both the Men's and Women's Semi-finals. Both Finals will be held on 27 November.

By necessity, the results posts will be a hard slog, but with my extraordinary typesetting skills (I've been getting lessons from Snooty) you will hopefully be able to pick and choose what you want and ignore the rest.

[Lord Snooty]

Well I didn't teach you to make England almost invisible. 

[ritchiebaby]

I thought I'd bring a bit of colour to my post - blue for Scotland, white for England and red for Wales.

I hope you approve.

[ritchiebaby]

First, the good news - there will be live coverage at 8am on Monday (Women Russia v Switzerland) on Eurosport2 as well as highlights of the weekend's play at the same time on Eurosport1. Tuesday has live coverage at 2pm on Eurosport2 (Men Switzerland v Germany). On Thursday the live Men's game between Norway and Scotland is scheduled for Eurosport1 at 12 noon. Other Scotland games are available if you get Russian, Polish, Swedish, American or Swiss TV channels. Highlights will be shown at various times throughout the week, even through the ungodly hours.

Secondly, the bad news - there is no coverage of the B Championships as far as I can see. This means no invisible teams or even Wales will be featured. The only hope is that some of the highlights might give a brief mention of the progress of these teams.

No doubt the live coverage will eventually feature the Semi-finals onwards on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

[ritchiebaby]

And Scotland are off and running in their quests for European Medals.

The Women started off this morning with a solid 7-4 win over Russia, always being in front all the way through the game. Their second game tonight saw them also defeat Denmark 8-2 after only 8 ends and again they were always in front and playing clinically.

The Men also won in this afternoon's game against defending champions Sweden by 6-2 after only 7 ends in another dominant performance. It's not often you'll see 7-time winner Niklas Edin concede the game with 3 ends still to play.

The colourful England teams also got off to a good start, with the Men winning 9-8 against Austria in a very tight game that swung back and forth.

Their Women won both of their games today, firstly beating Slovakia by 10-5 after 9 ends, despite losing 3 shots in the 7th end to leave England only leading by 1 shot. But they immediately replied with 3 shots of their own to make the game safe. In their second game, they must have beaten Lithuania, because although the scores have not yet appeared on the website, the news section reports them as having 2 wins.

As for Wales, their Men's team made it a clean sweep (curling joke there!) by beating France 5-4 after a tense finish. Just like the English women, they made life more difficult than it might have been swopping 3s in the 8th and 9th ends with France. Wales had refused taking a shot in the previous 4 ends, then picked up their 3 in the 8th end to secure the game (not). France immediately broke back to tie the game going into the last end, which saw the Welsh hold their nerve to take the win.

[ritchiebaby]

Scotland Men carried on their merry way with a 6-2 win over Finland with 2 ends to spare. Later they defeated Italy by 7-2, this time with 3 ends to spare. These were probably 2 of their "easier" games during the week, and I would expect much the same in the game against Netherlands tomorrow, but certainly not in their later game against joint-leaders Germany.

The Women also carried on where they left off yesterday with a battling 8-5 win over defending champions Sweden. The Scots were 1-4 down after 3 ends, but scored 5 shots in 4 consecutive ends to gain control of the game. Tomorrow they play Germany and Estonia.

England Men also continued their good form with a hard-fought 7-6 win over Turkey and look forward with confidence to their game against France tomorrow night.

The Women also strengthened their position with an 8-5 win over Finland, scoring 3 shots in the extra end to secure the win. Tomorrow they play Latvia and Spain, both potentially dangerous opponents.

Wales Men also won, this time against Slovenia by 9-1 after 8 ends, courtesy of scoring 7 shots in 4 ends to force the concession. Wales play Turkey and Austria tomorrow, again both dangerous opponents.

That's 13 games played by the home nations over the weekend with 13 wins gained. The good form will probably not last much longer, but it's indicative of a great start for all the teams.

[ritchiebaby]

Scotland Men won again today, convincingly beating Netherlands 9-2 after only 6 ends and the Women beat a stubborn German team 9-5, scoring two 3s in the 3rd and 6th ends to make all the difference. Both keep up their 100% record so far (the only ones to do so) with another game to come later today. The Women play Italy and Czech Republic tomorrow, both opponents currently tying for 4th place. The Men only have 1 game tomorrow against Denmark. the Danes also tying for 4th place.

England Women won their early morning game today, beating Latvia 8-5 with an end to play, and are currently 5-4 up after 5 ends against Spain. They are due to play Slovenia and Austria tomorrow. The Men will play Slovakia tomorrow morning.

Wales Men suffered their first defeat this afternoon, losing 7-10 to Turkey despite leading 7-4 with 4 ends left to play and will hopefully get back on track tomorrow afternoon when they meet Slovakia.

[ritchiebaby]

Just before I dash off to my curling game, I'm pleased to report that England Women stretched their advantage to 9-5, prompting a last end concession by Spain.

Also Scotland Women brushed aside Estonia by 10-3 after 7 ends, although they only scored in 4 of the 7 ends.

[ritchiebaby]

Scotland Men also managed to defeat Germany yesterday, this time by 10 shots to 5, but were held to 6-5 after 6 ends, before a strong finish by the Scots prompted the concession with 2 ends to go. This leaves them with 5 wins out of 5 games, ahead of Sweden on 4 wins, followed by Denmark and Norway on 3 wins.

The Women slipped badly to a surprise defeat against Italy by 7-8 this morning, mainly due to a poor start. Scotland were 1-6 down after 5 ends and although they recovered well, they always had too much to do. Only Hailey Duff at lead played up to the required standard at this level. Even after this reverse, they still lead the table with 5 wins out of 6, with Germany, Russia, Switzerland and Sweden on 4 wins.

England Men dominated the game against France last night despite losing 3 shots in the 2nd end and swept the French aside, winning 8-3. This morning they started off fairly well against Slovakia, drawing 3-3 after 5 ends but fell away in the second half of the game, eventually losing 5-9 with 1 end to go. They are still equal 1st with Austria and Turkey, all with 3 wins from 4 games.

The Women started slowly in the same morning session and were 1 down at the halfway point, but stepped up a gear to run out 10-4 winners against Slovenia with an end to play. They are still unbeaten after 6 games with Hungary and Norway on 5 wins and then Austria on 4 wins.

Wales Men recorded their second defeat yesterday, going down 4-9 to Austria after 8 ends. Again they led early on but couldn't continue their good form for the whole game. This afternoon's game against Bulgaria is beginning to look like a must-win game with only 2 games left after it. They are joined on 2 wins from 4 games by Slovakia in 4th equal place.

[ritchiebaby]

Scotland Women got the show back on the road again with a convincing 9-1 win over Czech Republic, the Czechs conceding after the 7th end. With 3 more games to go, they should qualify if they secure 1 more win. Tomorrow sees them play a tough-looking Switzerland, who are hot on their heels with 1 less win than the Scots.

The Men had a really nerve-wracking game against Denmark which they won 9-8, being taken all the way to the last stone. They were 5-6 down after 6 ends, but scored 2 shots, then 3 in the following 2 ends to build a lead of 4 shots. Denmark then scored 2 shots and were lying 2 shots in the last end, forcing Bruce Mouat to take one out to win the game. The Men also need 1 more win to be almost certain to qualify with 4 games still to play, 2 wins to be certain. They have 2 games tomorrow against Switzerland and Czech Republic, both potential banana skins.

England Women eventually beat Austria 9-8 after an extra end in the last few minutes to continue their 100% record. In a very tight game early on England led by 3-2 after 6 ends, but then the game opened up and the 10-end score finished 7-7. With this victory they are the first team to qualify for the later stages with 2 games still to play, probably along with Hungary and Norway. Austria, Latvia and Lithuania are the teams fighting it out for the remaining slot. England now play Norway tomorrow afternoon.

The Men take on Slovenia tomorrow and are currently joint leaders alongside Austria and Turkey with 3 wins from 4.

Wales Men stood up to the task against Bulgaria, winning 7-3 with an end to play. Wales are also on 3 wins, but from 5 games, and play Slovakia in their penultimate game tomorrow.