HOWE of Fife president Jock McDonald believes his side's shock Scottish Hydro Electric Cup triumph over Glasgow Hawks will prove a major embarrassment to the SRU.
Howe pulled off one of the biggest surprises in the history of the competition by knocking out a team three divisions above them.
The upset came just days after tournament officials sparked a storm by summarily expelling two clubs from the compet
ition in a bid to ease the fixture backlog. Their decision to boot out Cumbernauld and St Boswells was made purely on the grounds of league status.
McDonald said after Howe's 27-17 win at Duffus Park: "What we achieved has made a mockery of the SRU's edict.
"Obviously there was great celebrations in our clubhouse after the final whistle, but a lot of the chat was also about what they have done to the smaller clubs. I think we have made something of a statement for these teams, and it is definitely a big boost for sides outside the Premiership."
And McDonald is convinced his men can go even further. He said: "We face Edinburgh Accies next and we have to be quietly confident."
Howe snatched the initiative with two tries from flanker Pete Black and another from Ross Aitken, goaled by Iain Aitken, who then scored and converted himself. Hawks came right back into it with a try from hooker John Maclay in the opening minute of the second half.
The Howe widened their lead with a try from Scotland U19 stand-off Ross Aitken, converted by brother Iain before Ross knocked over a penalty himself.
All Hawks could manage in the dying embers of the game was a try from Ally Maxwell.
Howe might have caused the upset of the day, but Perthshire came within a touch of an even bigger shock as they were just edged out 34-30 by Selkirk at North Inch.
With three minutes remaining, Craig Wallace went over for a fourth Perthshire try, a signal for the home side to throw everything into the final minutes only for the try which would have sealed a famous victory to elude them. "The guys should be proud at walking away with a result like that even though they lost," said Perthshire coach Derek Busby.
Boroughmuir had to come from behind in an entertaining affair at Linlithgow. In a ding-dong opening spell Matt Dixon gave the hosts an early lead with two penalties, Muir then got into the expected lead but back came the locals to lead 18-17.
However, Muir had too much class and moved away to a 41-21 half-time lead which was stretched to a final winning score of 58-26 that takes them through to a fifth-round derby of a tie at home to Watsonians.
Another former cup winner Hawick had a long trip to Aberdeen in round four to take on Gordonians from the lower reaches of National Division 3 and the expected gap in class resulted in a 68-3 win for the Premier One club. The Greens, who led 26-3 at the pause, ran in a total of ten tries, two coming from John Coutts.
Stewart's Melville eased past a potential banana skin at Hawick YM, scoring tries through Nick Wood, Adam Broach and Hayden Lingard close to half time to turn 27-0 up. It was stoppage time before YM got on the score sheet with a converted try from Mark Young to make it 27-7 at full-time.
GHA led Lasswade only 7-6 at half-time at Braidholm, but, thanks mainly to the exertions of James Noonan – a try, three conversions and a penalty – the hosts got home 39-6.
Ardrossan Accies, for whom Alan Wilson with a try, two penalties and a conversion was the hero, lost out to Aberdeen Grammar 27-23 thanks to a last-minute try.
