Shire shown Howe

Jan 18 2013 by Gordon Bannerman, Perthshire Advertiser

At the pre-match lunch the Howe of Fife and Scotland legend Dave Rollo was reminiscing about the mighty tussles these two teams have had over the years.

But Howe’s 10 try demolition job outlined the gap between the clubs at present.

The winner of this RBS Caledonia Cup match now plays Aberdeen Grammar School FP in the final on Saturday.

Shire certainly started the game well and for 20 minutes looked as though they would give the young Cupar team a fright.

The forwards fought for every ball but it was clear the backs were finding it tough breaking through the Howe defence.

In their first real attack of the game, however, Howe went in front with a Mason try.

Shire became frustrated that they couldn’t breach the Howe defence and resorted to aimless kicking, which was their downfall.

One wayward kick was run straight back at Shire and Imrie cantered in for the second try.

Shire almost hit back when Imo chipped through and collected his kick before handing on to James Wade but the centre didn’t have the pace to take him over the line.

From then on it was all Howe as they proceeded to run in another four tries before half-time.

Shire fought back in the second half with tries by Whitelaw and Matt Smith but once again slack kicking straight into full back Horne’s hands with no- one following up allowed Howe to score another four tries and complete a miserable day for the Eagles.

Musselburgh are the visitorstomorrow, weather permitting, and the game is sponsored by Henderson Loggie.