The game was played in dry wind free conditions.

Howe came into this match with a 100% home record and seven successive wins behind them. CQP for their part had won their last two matches both at home and were one of only two teams to have beaten Howe this season.

While CQP were almost able to field a full strength set of forwards they were unfortunately not in the same position in the backs where seven backs who would be deemed first team squad members were missing all with one exception through injury. This situation had enforced some team changes and David Goudie had been moved to ten from twelve with Jake Douglas taking over at inside centre.

CQP opened brightly and with only two minutes played were awarded a penalty which was put into touch five metres from the Howe line. The ball was thrown in hard and the CQP catcher was unable to hold onto the ball which went forward and the opportunity to open the score was lost.

 Five minutes later saw CQP awarded another penalty which Andi Black stroked over to give CQP a 3-0 lead.

Howe fought back but in the space of three minutes Jake Douglas showed his rugby league experience putting in three crunching tackles to stop Howe progress. Howe were not to be denied however and with thirteen minutes played scored their first try of the afternoon with a nice backs move down the right hand side. The try was converted to give Howe a 7-3 lead.

 CQP forced their way upfield earning a penalty which ended with a scrum on the Howe five metre line. The scrum had to be reset and on the second put in Robert Harvey was adjudged to have pulled the scrum down. Why the attacking side would do that is difficult to believe.

 With just over a quarter of the game played an excellent break by Andy Scott saw the ball punted downfield into the Howe in goal area. He was just beaten to the touchdown with Howe being rewarded with a twenty-two drop out relieving the pressure on them.

 With twenty-five minutes on the clock the game took a dramatic turn when Jake Douglas was red carded following a melee in front of the stand. It would be inappropriate to comment further on this at this time.…

Shortly after this CQP's troubles got worse when Michael Nellaney suffered a leg knock and had to be replaced by Callum Dickson

 With thirty-four minutes on the clock Howe were awarded a penalty more or less in front of the posts which was duly popped over the bar by Martin. On the stroke of half-time an attempted pass out by David Goudie was intercepted and Howe and Ewan Jack raced through to score under the posts. The try was duly converted and Howe then got another penalty which they converted to give them a 20-3 lead at the break.

During the first half CQP had scored what seemed to be a perfectly good try from a maul but the referee was in the wrong position to have a clear view and CQP's reward was merely a scrum which went unrewarded.  

On the restart CQP adjusted their line up restoring Goudie to twelve and putting Andy Scott into scrum half with Andi Black moving to ten. Five minutes later saw Michael Plitz replace Andy Lamont at prop.

With twelve minutes played Wilson of Howe was sinbinned for persistent offending and the teams were once again level in numbers. Shortly after that a good backs move saw Tam Davidson going for the Howe line on the right hand side with a man to his outside. Tam sold the dummy and went over for a try about five metres in from the corner flag. The conversion was missed and the score went to twenty points to eight.

 With Howe still on fourteen players Callum Dickson was sinbinned on the far side taking CQP down to thirteen players. Callum Dickson resumed with thirtytwo minutes played. Only three minutes later however Howe score their third try when taking advantage of their extra man they ran a try in on the left side to put them into a 27-8 lead. The try was scored by the loosehead prop and was converted.

 CQP refused to give up and shortly after this Andy Noble and Tam Davidson broke down the right wing and a Tam Davidson pass saw Andy Noble go over for a fine try which Andi Black converted despite the score being only five metres in from touch.

 With time running down Shepherd came on. Howe got their fourth try with the final play of the game to leave the score at 34-15 to Howe which is where it finished.

 During the second half CQP appeared to have scored following a maul near the Howe line when with the referee indicating advantage to CQP the ball popped up over the Howe line and Gregg Gilmour dived on it. The referee decided to award CQP a penalty instead of a try. The reason for this decision was unclear.

Despite being a man down for almost threequarters of this game CQP never at any stage gave up and tackled well throughout. This was a very brave performance of which the CQP players should be proud. Special mention is due to Graham Williamson who put in an enormous amount of work throughout and also Andy Scott and Andi Black who combined very effectively in the second half

 On leaving the ground at the conclusion of this match a senior Howe member caught up with your scribe and and congratulated him on the manner in which CQP had playing describing the performance as very gutsy and making it clear that this was not just his opinion but that of his colleagues including former internationals. While this doesnt generate any points it is good to know that while CQP didnt win this match they none the less earned the admiration and respect of the opposition support. . 

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