At Whitby, Ontario, east of Toronto, near Niagara, we met our most experienced opponents, fresh from a tour of Wales, Anderson Collegiate. The welcome was warm and considerable and their rugby reputation genuine. Their trophy cabinet was full of the spoils from six years touring.

Warned and shaken by their lack of pre-match preparation against Pickering, the captain and his team allowed no such laxity in approach to upset their style against Anderson. With a first choice line-up throughout, the side played as well as I have ever seen it, and its performance in Whitby was a tremendous advert for Duke of York's rugby, for the commitment of that team and a complete justification for bringing the tour party to Ontario.

Realising what we were now up against and with the carrot of a clean sweep, Laurence Park, North Toronto, on our final day in Canada, were going to have to be very good to beat us. They did their best by including two student Scottish schools U19 loose head of l979 - the Ontario fly-half and Ontario no. 8.

With Mike Tinsley out and the front row in disarray for much of the first half, it meant that life was very difficult for the half backs. Dean Richardson won us the game with four fine penalty goals, but the scoreline of 12-9 does little to reflect the balance of play or the tigerishness of the forwards' loose play in which Denis Lutman, Gareth Edwards, Steines, and Mark Geldard were outstanding.

And so we returned undefeated, but I hope, and this is far more important, much more rugby-wise. The Canadians were unbelievable hosts and expected nothing in return except the opportunity to learn a few "rugby wrinkles" from their more experienced guests. The Dukie party of 1981 did its stuff and I congratulate them. But I must add to this a word of warning. If Dukie plays continue to ignore their running, handling and individual skills; refuse to work on the weights to improve their worsening physical condition, or think they know enough about the game, then these Canadians, with their avid enthusiasm to "learn" about rugby football, could overturn these results in less than twelve months!

W.D.B.