Up for grabs at Mayfield was the inaugural Rankin Rose Bowl, donated by last season’s SRU president Ian Rankin, who has ties to both Dundee High Rugby and Howe of Fife.
Of more significance were the BT National 1 points on offer and, just as they did in the cup a couple of seasons ago, Howe came out on top.
It was as close as had been expected but Howe were never behind. Michael Fedo opened the scoring with a try then Angus Guthrie nudged the scoreboard forward with two second half penalties.
At 11-0 up going into the final minutes, the large Howe support considered the points in the bag until Dundee’s winger, the Fijian known as Ice, raced over for a try.
It was unconverted but the hosts were now within a score of taking the lead but the nail- biting lasted only for the length of injury time.
“We were the more dominant side but we didn’t turn pressure into points and at the end we were nervous that the same thing could happen as against Stewarts Melville a couple of weeks ago when we lost to the final play of the game,” said Howe president Murdo Fraser.
“We held on though and although there is a long way to go, we are delighted to be in fourth spot in the table.”
With only three Finlay Smith penalties on the board and trailing 21-9 at half-time at Beveridge Park, things didn’t look too bright for Kirkcaldy in their BT National 2 clash against Falkirk. It didn’t get much better with the visitors running out winners 28-16.
Kurt Littlejohn crossed for Kirkcaldy with Smith converting but the four tries for Falkirk from Graham Lindsay, Garry Dempsey, Andy Hamilton and Harry Russell, with James Brimms adding all four conversions, ensured the Sunnyhill outfit took maximum points.
At North Inch, there was nothing in it at the break with Perthshire and Livingston, who met in BT National 3, tied at 7-7 but the home side stretched away after half-time to win 25-7.
Tries from Matt Smith, Duncan Clow, Duncan Wither and Christy O’Donnell, with Clow adding a conversion and a penalty, saw the home side up to fourth spot in the table.