Howe of Fife 60-19 Strathmore

The side was along similar lines with one major surprise, the inclusion on the bench of former Howe player, Rory Drummond, now playing his rugby in Hong Kong.

David Wallace, after a strong performance against Murrayfield, started in the second row.

Howe started in barnstorming fashion with both forwards and backs powerfully cutting through the visitors’ defence and within 15 minutes Howe had taken a 17-0 lead.

First Fraser Allan, driven through the defence by captain Lawrie scored too far out for Aitken to convert.

Lathangie was a constant thorn, harassing and disrupting the ball coming out the base of Strathmore’s scrum.

This produced a turnover for another forward, Jake Douglas, to drive over for a try.

While all this was going on, Drummond came on into the back row.

This was his prompt to display his physicality as he brushed aside the Strathmore players to score. Aitken to converted.

It looked ominous for Strathmore.

A few unnecessary penalties and loose marking allowed Strathmore back into the match.

They are very well drilled in the close drive and support, by former Dundee man Alan Brown.

Following sustained pressure, they scored through Matt Russell with Henry Arbon converting.

This try was soon cancelled out by Howe.

The backs produced a bonus point try from a deep kick, when Jack Todd was given the ball out wide with a bit of ground still to cover.

Todd stepped inside, then outside the defence, sprinting away to score close to the stand side corner flag. The conversion was unsuccessful.

Strathmore scored again before half-time through Glenn Feighan, converted by Arbon.

An eight- point lead at the break seemed little reward for the Howe’s dominance.

Playing downhill in the second half, Howe would be looking to turn their ascendance into points.

And, so it proved with Graham Thomson scoring just after the break off a lovely pass from Callum Willison, angling his run onto the pass, before straightening to dot the ball down at the side of the posts.

Willison, taking over kicking duties from Aitken, added the two extra points.

Howe’s defence, as the week before, stood up to a barrage of possession from Strathmore, something they had not been as accurate in the last outing against the visitors.

Although they did score through their speedy winger Rhuaridh Beaton, it was their last scoring act of the afternoon.

The Howe proceeded to score five further tries.

It was a dominant display, with every player committed to a team performance.

Unselfish, accurate, with structure and some excellent passing, which certainly pleased the large crowd.

Drummond bagged his second of the afternoon , nonchalantly brushing aside any defender daring to tackle him.

Willison added the conversion.

Another passage of inter-passing and support play gave Todd space to outpace the defence with Willison adding the conversion.

Aitken and Willison swapped positions, the latter coordinating the attack from the no 10 berth.

Further excellent interplay allowed Aitken the opportunity to get on the scoresheet. Willison missed the conversion.

Still the Howe were not finished.

Strathmore could not contain the Howe attack and winger Sean Murray scored two tries.

Not many teams contain him when given space to run in. Willison converted the first try. The afternoon ended with Howe scoring nine tries and a 60-19 win.

Howe are still in the mix for a promotion spot although Berwick look to have secured top berth.

Howe are at at Largs this week against Ardrossan.