With Kirkcaldy declining to first foot Aberdeen Grammar Rugby at Rubislaw, much to the home side’s annoyance, the focus of this RBS Scottish Cup round was on Mayfield.
Howe of Fife pitched up to fulfil their previously postponed match against Dundee High and, despite giving a run to a few players who had impressed for the second string Titans, Dundee could have expected to take the points leaving themselves with a chance of qualifying for the cup.
Howe had other ideas though and their feisty pack dominated the breakdown and committed grand larceny on Dundee ball in the collision area.
Howe deservedly led at half time with tries by wing Murray Calcutt and lock Terry Turpie and a Dom Martin conversion to a couple of penalties from High full back Bryce Hosie.
Dundee sharpened up into the second half though and Nick Alston slotted a penalty.
With Howe down to 14 men after a binning, Alan Dymock’s try pulled Dundee ahead as the final whistle loomed. It seemed a long time coming and, as injury-time stretched on, it was Dundee’s turn to lose a player to the naughty boys’ step.
Howe gave it a real blast with the final play of the game and Calcutt crossed for the winning try.
“A lot of things went wrong for us today,” admitted Dundee coach Colin Robertson.
“Even before the game, captain Alan Brown had to pull out and during the game itself we picked up five injuries resulting in those players leaving the field. Still, this was an unacceptable performance overall. We didn’t convert our pressure and territory into points and we gave away too much ball.
“All credit to Howe for taking the points, they played with more accuracy than us on this occasion, particularly at the breakdown.”
“We were very happy to go to Mayfield and come back with a win,” said delighted Howe coach Gary Horne.
“We were on top in several areas of the game, nicking a few of their line-outs, surprising them at the breakdown and up faster in defence than I think they expected.
“I felt that we were a bit hard done to when we had a man binned and they took advantage to go ahead with Alan Dymock’s try but we repaid that when they went a man down and we grabbed the winner.”
The result leaves Howe top of the qualifying table with 16 points and, should Aberdeen Grammar win against Aberdeenshire next week, the clash at Duffus Park between Howe and Aberdeen Grammar on January 18 will decide the winner of the CaledoniaCup and who goes forward into the quarter-finals of the RBS Scottish Cup.
That sequence of games means that Howe will have their two biggest games of the season so far back to back as, Musselburgh will travel to Duffus Park the following week for a clash which could decide who takes the RBS Championship B title.
Musselburgh, Howe and new leaders Jed, who bounced to the top of the table at the weekend after winning their rescheduled match against Lasswade 69-12 at Hawthornden, are all in contention.