Club president Gordon Thomson at Saturday's Howe of Fife Sevens with the winning hosts - back from left, Luke Connah, Jake Douglas, Will Howley, Tom Logan, Stuart Dawson and Robert Douglas, with, front, Andy Harley, Luke Parsons, Fraser Allan, Logan Williams and Eden Cruickshank (Photo: Chris Reekie)Club president Gordon Thomson at Saturday's Howe of Fife Sevens with the winning hosts - back from left, Luke Connah, Jake Douglas, Will Howley, Tom Logan, Stuart Dawson and Robert Douglas, with, front, Andy Harley, Luke Parsons, Fraser Allan, Logan Williams and Eden Cruickshank (Photo: Chris Reekie)
Club president Gordon Thomson at Saturday's Howe of Fife Sevens with the winning hosts - back from left, Luke Connah, Jake Douglas, Will Howley, Tom Logan, Stuart Dawson and Robert Douglas, with, front, Andy Harley, Luke Parsons, Fraser Allan, Logan Williams and Eden Cruickshank (Photo: Chris Reekie)

In photos: Second-half fightback sees Howe of Fife win their own sevens

​Howe of Fife marked the 50th anniversary of winning their own sevens for the first time by doing so all over again on Saturday.

The hosts had to come from behind to secure the JR Gray Trophy for the 15th time, having been 7-0 down against Dundee at half-time in the final, but three unconverted tries without reply did the trick, earning them a 21-7 victory.

A festival of rugby kicked off at Cupar’s Duffus Park last Friday with a dinner celebrating the golden anniversary of Howe’s first win of their own sevens trophy.

That same evening saw an under-18s tournament take place, with home teams winning both the Drummond Cup for the main competition and the Allan Booth Memorial Plate.

A large crowd were there to see Howe progress to the final by beating Hillfoots and 2004s in their pool matches.

Their semi-final was an all-Howe affair, with Crusaders losing out to their seniors.

Dundee beat Kinross and a president’s seven In their pool matches and edhed out a Seabass Select side managed by Scotland star George Horne and featuring Howe first XV head coach Stewart Lathangie in their semi-final.

In the final, though Howe were down 7-0 by half-time, man of the match Andy Harley covered every inch of grass, directing play and coming up with two outstanding tackles to deny Dundee tries that could potentially have taken them out of reach of a comeback.

That display inspired Howe to fight back after the break, with Luke Connah scoring first, then Harley himself after a pass from captain Fraser Allan, then Connah again, all three tries being converted by Harley.

Making up the rest of the winning squad were Will Howley, Jake Douglas, Logan Williams, Eden Cruickshanks, Logan Parsons, Tom Logan and Robert Douglas.

In the day’s plate competition, Kirkcaldy beat Perthshire to win the Bill Ferrier Quaich.

In the women’s tournament, select team Pigbarians won the Cordelia Manson Cup by beating Howe Harlequins.

An under-16s boys and girls’ sevens tournament followed on Sunday, and the former was won by Currie, beating Stirling County in the final, and the latter by Stirling County after seeing off Perthshire.

Related topics:

Comment Guidelines

National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.