Howe of Fife back on ball in rugby’s Scottish National League Division 3 after three weeks off

Their first fixture of the new year is away to East Dunbartonshire’s Allan Glen’s, with kick-off at 2pm.

Rescheduled from the beginning of last month due to their hosts’ Bearyards pitch in Bishopbriggs being frozen and subsequently brought forward from its original revised date of Saturday, February 3, it’s the only game being played in their division this weekend so it offers fourth-placed Howe a chance to overtake third-placed Glen’s but only if they can come up with a bonus-point win and overcome a points-scored deficit of 39.

The Cupar club are currently on 43 points from 13 fixtures and their hosts on 48 from 12.

Howe also have the incentive for victory of making amends for their 38-34 defeat in the reverse fixture at Duffus Park in mid-September and that will spur them on, according to captain Fraser Allan.

Allan and Bartek Brylak scored two tries apiece for the Fifers that day, with Greg Frearson and Jamie Thomson also touching down and Ryan Powles adding two conversions, giving them the lead at one stage, but it wasn’t enough to avert one of a handful of defeats this campaign for head coach Stewart Lathangie’s side.

“Absolutely we’ll be looking to make amends,” said Allan.

“We’re pretty happy that it’s been brought right forward to January 6 so we can hit the ground running in 2024.

“We fancy our chances, to be fair, but it’s not going to be an easy game, especially with it being over there.

“If the weather’s still wet, their pitch is quite heavy and that’ll probably favour them a wee bit, but we’re looking pretty sharp at the moment.

“I reckon we’ve got a pretty good chance of getting a win.”

Howe’s next match after this weekend is at home to Boroughmuir the following Saturday, also with kick-off at 2pm, and they’ll be hoping to pull off a winning double, having won the reverse fixture in Edinburgh by 41-36 in October.