Howe of Fife notch up first opening-day win for four years

With Howe Crusaders also taking on Falkirk’s seconds, it was a packed arena.

Howe’s first XV line-up listed a couple of new arrivals in the form of prop Bartek Brylak and stand-off Kaine Duguid.

Finlay Foulkes was in at scrum-half for the unavailable Andy Harley and Jake Douglas is reinvented as a centre.

An early score for Hamilton gave them a 7-0 lead, but that touchdown lifted Howe, prompting them to score in reply almost immediately. A lovely grubber kick from Iain Aitken set up a 50-22 lineout, a platform for captain Fraser Allan to power over, with Duguid landing the conversion.

Then, following a quick tap penalty after a Hamilton player strayed offside, Greg Frearson added another try, breaking through numerous tackles to score, with Duguid converting again.

Howe coped well defending against their South Lanarkshire visitors’ attacks, more of them individual than team-based. The Fifers were quick onto the Hamilton ruck ball, creating turnovers in crucial areas of the pitch and regaining possession.

Howe’s next score came from the dynamic Allan, leading by example, but the attempted conversion bounced off a post.

Before the break, however, Hamilton registered a second try, so at half-time, Howe led 24-12.

Following the restart, Howe scored from a lineout catch and drive. It was that man Allan going over for his third try.

Hamilton’s half-time talk must have been about the lack of width to their play as they started to work more as a unit, stretching the Howe defence. Their tactics worked, the visitors scoring wide out and adding an extra two points with a well-struck conversion.

Then followed the first of three yellow cards for Howe, though nothing of any note in a game without any malice, the referee administering those sin-binnings for persistent infringements. First to go was Allan.

Hamilton were applying all the pressure at that point, scoring once more out wide with another well-struck

conversion to follow.

With only a three-point margin separating the two sides, Howe were under the cosh, but to their credit, they defended every Hamilton attack.

On regaining the ball in their own 22, Howe burst out of their half with a surge from Douglas. Aitken was in support, evading the trailing Hamilton players before finding Angus Cook, last year’s under-18 player of the season, offering back-up. Cook strode away to score at the posts for an easy conversion from Aitken.

The second Howe yellow followed, Cameron Patrick, on as a sub, in his farewell match as he’s moving to Cambridge for work, was given his marching orders by the ref and Brylak followed the same route moments later.

Hamilton scored a further unconverted try but Howe held out with 13 players to record their first opening-day league win for four years, by 36-31.

This weekend they travel to Orkney looking to make amends for a 23-22 loss there in January.

Duffus was a happy place to be on Saturday as Howe Crusaders, showing a massive improvement on last week’s loss to Carnoustie, beat Falkirk 2s 57-14.