Their first back-to-back wins of the current Arnold Clark National League Division 2 rugby season keep Howe of Fife at the brink of mid-table.

A month on from being stuck at the bottom of the division, those successive successes, both by three-point margins – by 30-27 away to Dundee on Saturday and 22-19 hosting Gordonians at Cupar’s Duffus Park seven days prior – leave head coach Niall Lear’s team as they were, in seventh place, now on 20 points from nine fixtures, ten clear of basement side Preston Lodge.

Their preparations for that game over the River Tay were disrupted by full-back Finlay Foulkes incurring an injury while warming up and loosehead prop Jamie Cloy apparently becoming unavailable, leading to right-winger Kenni Gray being redeployed to No 15 and the No 14 and No 1 jerseys respectively going to replacements Max Kane and Laughlan Bayne.

That rejig was accompanied by four returnees taking up starting berths – Logan Parsons at openside flanker, Mortten Massik at tighthead prop, Jamie Thomson at lock and, red card ban now served, Fraser Allan at No 8.

Howe scored first, and it was their talisman Allan doing the honours, breaking the home defence open to dot down wide out.

Scrum-half Harry Britton couldn’t add the conversion but he was successful with a penalty a short time after.

Favourable conditions allowed Howe to use the width of the pitch but they found it difficult to further penetrate the home defence.

At the other end of the pitch, their own defence was being tested right on the line and Dundee eventually found a way over the line for a converted try.

After Howe were left short-handed by Bayne being yellow-carded, Dundee took advantage of their extra man to score an unconverted try, but another penalty for Britton ahead of the break reduced the deficit to a single point.

A notable feature of the first 40 minutes was the accuracy of Howe hooker Liam Aquilina’s lineout throws, possibly due to it being the first time he’d not had to contend with a howling gale.

As in the first half, Howe took the initiative at the restart and it was that man Allan again scrambling over to score following great interplay from his teammates, and this time Britton converted.

A mistake from the restart gifted the ball back to Dundee, however, and they used it to good effect to score an unconverted try.

That spurred Howe into action and they dominated the next 20 minutes. Strong running from left-winger Fraser Greig, Gray, Parsons and blindside flanker Kieran Todd created numerous opportunities, initially thwarted by Dundee, often due to high tackles left unpunished.

Howe did eventually go ahead via a rumbustious score from Todd, breaking tackles and sprinting away to score, with Britton converting.

Greig was then in the right place at the right time to take a pass from outside-centre Cammy Walker to score a well-deserved but unconverted bonus-point try.

With Howe now on top, that should have offered enough breathing space for a comfortable win, but again they lost possession from the restart and Dundee worked the ball well to score, though they missed the conversion, leaving them trailing by eight points.

Dundee, invigorated by that score, pushed Howe hard to try to get back in front and conjured up a fifth, unconverted try late on but couldn’t bridge the remaining three points’ difference.

Next up for the Fifers is a first-round national league cup tie away to Strathmore on Saturday, November 14, with kick-off at 1.30pm.