CurlingZone: Morrison Impressive in Grand Slam Debut

Rebecca Morrison's British Curling rink won 7-1 over Japan's Satsuki Fujisawa, making their top tier Grand Slam debut this week buoyed by the confidence generated from consistent performances on Canadian ice this season.

Morrison with Gina Aitken, Jen Dodds, Sophie Sinclair and Sophie Jackson form part of a record number of British Curling teams contesting an event in the most prestigious and lucrative series in the sport as the HearingLife Tour Challenge gets underway tomorrow (17-23 October).

Starting with hammer, Morrison blanked the first end, then got on the scoreboard scoring 3 in the second end. After a blank end, Fujisawa scored a single the fourth end, then forced Morrison to a single in the fifth end, with Morrison adding the final blow with a steal of 3 in the sixth end.

A total of 64 teams will take to the ice at the Niagara Falls GSOC event, split across two tiers with the top world ranked rinks featuring in Tier 1 and the next in Tier 2.

While three teams from the Olympic programme will compete in the men's event, however, Team Morrison fly the Scottish and British flag alone in the women's event, but do so on the back of an event which saw them defeat both the reigning World champions, Switzerland's Team Tirinzoni and European champions, Denmark's Team Dupont.

"At last week's Players Open it was good to tick off so many wins against great teams and that really filled us with confidence," said skip Rebecca Morrison.

"After last season we are now where we want to be and it feels like we are putting our name on the map this year and there is definitely a growing awareness now of what the Scottish teams are capable of.

"Scotland has always been a great curling nation, so it is great that we are represented in both the women's and men's Slams and there is definitely a growing presence of teams from around the world getting to the Slams now, it is not so Canadian dominated and overall I guess it shows how much the sport is becoming a global game, which is good for all of us.

"We now feel ready and excited about the week ahead, we want to make the play-offs and we have big goals.

"We know we have the ability to beat anyone out there, so we are feeling really optimistic and excited about playing in our first Slam together.

"The organisers here know how to pull out all the stops and put on a really great show and we couldn't have asked for a more impressive venue at Niagara Falls for our first Slam, so we want to make sure we keep coming back."

Their form this season reflects the way they have responded to changes on and off the ice as last season's European championship bronze medallists sought the improvements necessary to challenge at the highest level.

That has included strengthening their line-up by bringing in Olympic gold medallist Jen Dodds, after she put in a strong performance as their alternate at last season's World Championships, as well as the recruitment of Grand Slam winning skip Ross Paterson as their coach, leading to an innovative approach that has seen them regularly rotate playing positions during events.

The result has been that in four events in Canada this season they have reached two finals and a semi-final before winning all five of their group matches on their way to the play-offs at The Player's Open last week.

"We were pretty disappointed at the end of last season and I guess it could have gone either way but we didn't dwell on things, we decided to fight harder and that made us better and we thrived after that disappointment and really made getting better our drive," said Morrison.

"We have had two changes this season, Jen has joined us and Ross has joined us and rotating the team is interesting with different line-ups and every competition has shown us that no matter who is on the ice, we have a winning team.

"It rests up players and also gives you drive when you are on the ice. Every opportunity to play is not a given, so you fight every time you are competing and you want to play your very best. While the changing line-up may not be for every team, it is definitely working for us this season."

Having Dodds and Paterson in the camp also brings valuable experience of Grand Slam competition.

"We feel ready for this Slam and we are fortunate that Jen and Ross have played in many Slams and have that experience so they can answer our questions, so it is nice to have someone who has done it before there in the moment with you," Morrison observed.

By contrast, in the men's event fellow Scots Team Mouat, the reigning world champions and Team Whyte are vastly experienced in the Grand Slam arena, while they are joined in Niagara Falls by British Curling colleagues Team Craik, as well as their fellow Scots Team Bryce, both of whom are competing in the Tier Two event.

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