As a result of late arrival, they kicked off underprepared in torrential rain that was to persist for the full game. Banff were far more up for it than Mackie and the first 15 minutes were utterly dominated by them. They got their just rewards when awarded a penalty which they converted to give them an early lead.
Mackie showed glimmers of their potential and after 25 minutes Stuart Dey, playing at stand off for the day, made a great break and was tackled just short of the line. This gave Levack the opportunity to bring the scores to 3 – 3 which he duly did. Banff continued to dominate, being first to every breakdown and dominating the forward exchanges. Their consistency paid off and after 30 minutes they scored a converted try under the posts to give them a lead of 10 – 3.
With the final play of the half, Mackie had a lineout on the Banff five yard line and with a well worked move off the training ground Roux went over in the corner to narrow the half time score to 10 – 8
Despite some "encouragement" at half time, the second half continued in much the same vein. The Banff stand off was kicking everything and justifiably as the Mackie defence were simply failing to cope with this tactic. Stalemate continued until the 55th minute when Mackie were awarded a penalty after some more concerted pressure. Captain Mitchell stepped up and converted to give Mackie a surprising lead of 11 – 10. Ten minutes later the status quo was re-established as a Mackie player advised the referee that his interpretation of the rules was slightly wide of the mark. That let Banff back in to again take the lead at 13 – 11.
The turning point came after 70 minutes when the Banff second row was sin binned for persistent infringement. This gave the tired Mackie pack some respite and they started to build a number of good field positions. Roux, who had been outstanding, broke through their defensive line and succeeded in gaining a penalty which Mitchell again converted to give a scoreline of 14 – 13 in favour of the visitors. With five minutes to go Adam King, who had a sterling game in the unaccustomed position of prop, was substituted. His replacement made a quiet start but with two minutes to go gave away three penalties in quick succession to put Banff in with a chance with a final penalty. Fortunately for Mackie it drifted wide and Mackie carried the day. There is a phrase "winning ugly" well Mackie won this one "Coyote ugly"!
Next week it is back to league business with an away game at Glenrothes while the seconds are at Kirkcaldy
Team. D Ross, T Struthers, A Pollock, M Levack, F Allan, S Dey, R Mellis, A King, A Mitchell, J Sadio, M Flynn, S Byres, C Thompson, M Coull J Roux, R Gray, J Robertson, T Lahendro, D Hall, C Kay, N Taragon