Howe of Fife hit treble figures at home to Greenock Wanderers

Its postponement to the morning of 2023’s Calcutta Cup victory for Scotland against England was due to the abandonment of the original fixture in November because of an injury to one of the visiting players. At that point in last year’s match, Howe were leading 25-0 with 25 minutes played.

A few returning players bolstered the home side after their 23-22 away loss to Orkney seven days previously.

In the centre, Cameron Patrick teamed up with Greg Frearson, Callum Willison took over at full-back, Ned Wright was on the wing, the pack saw the return of Euan Bisset and Jamie Thomson took over in second row, with Will Howley moving into the back row.

The visitors, to get a side together to fulfil the fixture, introduced a number of their under-20 players, and it proved to be a torrid 80-minute welcome to senior rugby. No sooner had the referee blown his whistle to start the match than Howe scored through Andrew Harley, Iain Aitken converting.

Greenock did manage to enter the Howe half, kicking a penalty, after their hosts transgressed at a scrum.

In the next seven minutes, Howe scored another two tries from the hard running of Frearson and Brad O’Hanlon, both converted by Aitken.

By 18 minutes, Howe had clocked up 35 points as Willison crossed for a brace, Aitken converting.

Howe were running direct and hard, making their passes, supporting each other and finishing off their attacks.

Before the half-time break, the Fifers scored a further three tries via James Lawrie, Frearson and Harley, Aitken converting two.

Greenock soldiered on manfully, though they were kept at bay by a solid Howe defence. Games of this nature can become disjointed and loose, leading to a lack of accuracy and execution, but to their credit Howe continued to play as a unit, creating space, particularly the two Wills, Howley and Hodgson, moving the ball wide, drawing the defence and scoring another nine tries.

Fraser Allan and Patrick scored, neither converted; Frearson and Willison completed hat-tricks, Frearson

converting both; Lawrie scored again for a brace, converted by Frearson; two more tries from Frearson made it five on the day; and Wright and Willison, for his fourth, rounded off a try-fest, both converted by Aitken.

The final scoreline of 109-3 will help Howe’s points differential significantly.

There are harder opponents to come, but at home, with their large support behind them, Howe might yet cause an upset at the top of the table.

Greenock’s youngsters will learn a lot about themselves through this experience. It was not that long ago that Howe were on the end of a heavy loss against Stewarts Melville in Edinburgh, and many of those same players were on the pitch at the weekend.