Duffus park was a sorry sight last saturday for this match covered in yellow/brown grass. There had been some debate as to whether the game should be switched to Station Park, St Andrews home of Madras but in the event the two captains had agreed that Duffus was playable.

If Duffus Park was dull and drab then the Howe performance was the exact opposite. Had I been a Howe supporter I would have been very happy indeed with the performance of my team. The same could not be said of the small group of dedicated CQP supporters who had travelled almost seventy miles on a cold damp day to support the lads from Dumbreck.

Howe kicked off and scored within thirty seconds of the kick off. The ball was sent high and came down in an area which was free from any CQP receivers leaving the pursuing Howe player freedom to gather the ball pass left for a colleague to race past a static CQP defence cross the line in the corner before carrying on to ground the ball behind the posts leaving his kicker with the easiest of conversions to gain a seven point lead.

Shortly afterwards CQP were awarded a scrum in the Howe half and were promptly wheeled to the left with the reset going to Howe. Soon afterwards CQP were penalised and sent back a further ten metres for backchat leaving the Howe kicker another easy opportunity to add three points.

With only twelve minutes played Howe broke down the right wing and scored in the right corner. The kick was not converted and the score moved to 15-0. Five minutes later saw Howe score their third try when they surged through. The first tackle was missed leading to a try close to the posts which was converted by this stage it was obvious that Howe were now brimming with confidence and ready to run the ball all day. Howe are blessed with a fine set of backs who run purposefully with great pace. It was clear hat they had to be stopped early or they would pose a constant threat and shortly afterwards only a desperate John McCrossan tackle stopped what surely would have been another try

There were twenty-eight minutes on the clock before CQP started to make any real inroad into the game. Shortly after Speedy had a decent run and from the resultant CQP managed to muscle over the Howe line with the try being credited to Nicol Smyllie. Wayne Burrows conversion struck the inside of the left upright and went over to reduce the leeway to 22-7. With only a couple of minutes left of the first half there was an unseemly fracas in front of the stand and the two captains were given a talking to by the South African referee.

This was followed by a great run by Scott McInnes which ended up with him being stopped just short of the Howe line. Soon after a good pass out by Chisholm saw Tam Davidson sprint up the left hand side but again he was stopped short and half-time came with the score unchanged at 22-7

With only three minutes of the second half played Nicol Smyllie had to come off with a hamstring injury and was replaced by Peter Hollier. Seven minutes later saw Robert Harvey coming off with a neck injury to be replaced by Dan Tams. At the same time Phil Cairns went on in place of Speedy who was suffering from back pain. Shortly after this CQP scored from a take and drive which went unconverted. 

This seemed to motivate Howe to increase their efforts and they added a fourth try when they broke down the left wing. The conversion was missed and the score moved to 27-12. Soon afterwards with twenty-six minutes played Howe went further ahead after both Chisholm and Davidson failed to stop the Howe winger.Howe added try six when they kicked the ball through into the in goal area and got there first to secure the touchdown. Howe were now running strongly and using the hand off effectively especially when going down the wing. With thirty-five minutes of regulation time played Howe added try number seven when they burst through the centre. By this time the CQP defence was being ripped apart by the strong running Howe backs. This try was converted and the score moved to 46-12 and CQP were now down to fourteen men as both Callum Dickson and Tony Nyangweso had left the field injured and all four subs had been used including Michael Nellany. Soon after with the game well and truly won CQP got over through the forwards for a third try and shortly afterwards repeated the feat to gain a four try bonus. The scorer of tries two three and four were apparently Gillies Cook and McKinnon

Just before full-time Howe were awarded a penalty which they took short but McInnes tripped the advancing Howe player leaving the ref with no option but to send him to the bin

With CQP now reduced to thirteen players it was no surprise to see Howe add their eighth try against a well beaten depleted CQP team. 

Final score 51-24 to Howe.This meant that over the two games each team had racked up a total of fifty eight points.

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