Canterbury 31-28 Henley Hawks

By Alistair Beynon

It was a game where the lead changed hands on multiple occasions, but ultimately the home side just about prevailed, 31-28 in a fantastic game of rugby that could have gone either way. 

Henley started the game attacking down the hill, but it was the home side who came out of the blocks quickest and were putting Henley under pressure from the off. 

Still shaking off their bus legs in the opening exchanges, the Hawks found themselves 12-0 down just a quarter of the way into the contest thanks to tries from Frank Morgan and Eoin O'Donoghue. The opening try exemplified how the city side play the game, and a great break from O'Donoghue saw the ball go quickly through the speedy back division before Morgan touched down. The league's top point scorer, Frank Reynolds converted and it was 7-0. The home side were quickly back in the ascendency and O'Donoghue was the man to put the finishing touches on a powerful driving maul. Reynolds was off target with the extras, but it was looking like it could be a long afternoon for Luke Allen's men. 

However, their never say die spirit was on full show, and back came the Hawks with a Max Titchener penalty to put them on the board just a couple of minutes later. And it got better for Henley on 25 minutes when excellent footwork from George Wood saw the centre glide over in the corner for a superb solo score. Titchener was narrowly wide with the conversion, but Henley were back in the game at 12-8. 

The away side were alive and kicking and continued to put pressure on the hosts, and they took the lead for the first time just after the half hour mark when captain Rory Mason powered over from close range. Titchener split the uprights with his conversion and Henley were ahead at 15-12.

However, spurred on by a large and vocal crowd, the home side quickly regained the initiative when the impressive O'Donoghue went over for his second of the game five minutes before the break following another catch and drive effort. Reynolds was again narrowly off target but the home side had moved ahead at 17-15. 

There was to be one last moment of drama just before the half-time whistle when Titchener nailed his second penalty of the game with an excellent kick to give the Hawks a very narrow 18-17 advantage at the break. 

Henley continued to play some excellent rugby after the interval and moved further ahead ten minutes into the second period when Will Benning peeled off the back of an attacking scrum to cross the whitewash. Titchener converted again and Henley had moved two scores clear at 25-17.

However, to their credit, the home side refused to yield and came storming back into the contest with two quickfire tries to reclaim the lead. First, excellent hands from Morgan saw the wing just about hold onto a clever kick through from Reynolds to crash over for his sides bonus point try. This was closely followed by centre Harry Sloan powering his way over to give the hosts the lead back with 15 minutes remaining. 

A third Titchener three-pointer with 10 minutes left brought the score back to 31-28, and despite a late penalty in which the Hawks turned down a kick to the posts to level the scores in favour of a 5-metre lineout, the home side managed to steal the ball and hold on for a narrow victory. A losing bonus point was scant consolation for Henley, but it was a great contest and an excellent advert for National League rugby. 

Henley now have a rest weekend coming up before they welcome league leaders Tonbridge Juddians to Dry Leas on Saturday, April 5th, kick-off 3pm. 

Henley Hawks: 

15. Titchener, 14. Rawsthorn, 13. Wood, 12. Webb, 11. Gordon, 10. Howe, 9. Pugh, 1. Bailey, 2. Hayhow, 3. Mason (c), 4. Wallis-Downham, 5. Goodison, 6. Lowe, 7. Noone, 8. Benning

Reps: 16. Kinniburgh, 17. Collins, 18. Rawcliffe, 19. Richardson, 20. Jones 

Match photo courtesy of Phillipa Hilton