Old Albanian vs Henley Hawks – National 2 East, Saturday, September 9th, kick-off 3pm
By Alistair Beynon
Henley Hawks, fresh off their morale-boosting opening day triumph over Guernsey Raiders will be looking to make it two wins on the bounce when they travel to the Woollams to take on Old Albanian on Saturday, kick-off 3pm. Games between the Hawks and the St. Albans-based side have historically been entertaining affairs, and with the weather looking warm for the weekend, we can expect another free-flowing contest between two evenly matched sides.
Hawks Director of Rugby, Luke Allen will be very pleased with his teams performance over Guernsey Raiders last weekend. The Hawks looked creative and full of energy in their 43-33 bonus point win over the Channel Islanders, and Allen will be hoping for more of the same from his side against tougher opposition in the form of ex-National One side, OAs.
One area Allen will be keen to address was the penalty count against Henley last Saturday. With the new tackle regulations now in full effect, the Hawks fell foul of the referee and were nearly made to pay the price against a side whose main weapon was their rolling maul.
Off the field, Allen has bolstered his coaching set up with the experienced Rob Cain overseeing the forwards. Cain, previously the Head Coach for USA Women’s Eagles, will bring plenty of experience with him. Also joining him is Tom Redfern who will be looking after the backs. Redfern was Head Coach at Henley College and will also provide valuable experience for a side that never quite performed as consistently as they would have liked last season. On the basis of their opening day showing, there is much to be excited about for the Henley faithful. John Lacey will take responsibility for the overall defense and Alan Awcock will oversee the attack strategy going forward.
Last season, Henley did the double over the Hertfordshire side. Winning comfortably, 41-17 at OAs last September, the Hawks then put together another excellent display with a 32-8 win at Dry Leas in February in the return fixture.
OAs travelled up to Bury St. Edmunds last weekend and lost out narrowly, 21-20 after a late Bury penalty won the game for the home side.
In terms of team selection, Allen makes two changes to the XV that started against Guernsey. In the centres, Harrison Hall makes his first start in Henley colours and comes in for the injured Seb Scott, whilst Guy Rawsthorn comes in for Kaspar Strugar on the wing. Debutant, Lailand Gordon provides cover on the bench.
1.Kadeem Collins, 2. Tom Emery, 3. Rory Mason (c), 4. Marcus Lowe, 5. Sam Lunnon, 6. Will Benning, 7. Scotty White, 8. Alex Bradley, 9. Leo Webb, 10. Max Titchener, 11. George Wood, 12. Adam Hakimian, 13. Harrison Hall, 14. Guy Rawsthorn, 15. Toby Evans
Replacements: 16. Istok Totic, 17. Olly Frostick, 18. Callum Ross, 19. Jordan Oatley, 20. Lailand Gordon
Elsewhere, Henley 2s game against Crowthorne is now cancelled due to the opposition not being able to field a side. The 2s now travel to OAs with the Hawks to play a friendly against their second XV.
