TEAM Ireland lost 5-3 to the youthful Austrian team here in their first draw in the European Mixed Curling Championships at Murrayfield Ice Rink.

The team showed their ring rustiness over the first few ends and there was a dicey moment when skip Robin Gray’s last draw in the sixth end only cut out two of three Austrian counters. This gave the Austrians clear water between them and the Irish with the score at 4-1.

However, the team showed its experience at international level by keeping cool and engineering a good two at the seventh end.

The Irish then kept the pressure on the Austrians in the last end by getting cover out front. Two excellent draws from the skip saw them in a game-winning situation when lying two. But Austrian skip Sebastian Wunderer nailed his last stone hit for the win.

Skip Robin Gray said afterwards: “We were very rusty and  lacking in match practice of practice plus our inability to match the stones correctly cost us dear.

The team are now heading off for some R&R before facing Slovakia tonight at 8.30pm.