Henley Hawks 54-12 Oxford Quins

By Alistair Beynon

Henley Hawks put their recent woes behind them with a dominant display against Oxford Quins on Saturday, securing a try bonus point 54-12 victory at Dry Leas. 

The Hawks were good value for their win, running in eight tries in the process, including a brace each for Will Benning and Oscar Busby and 14-points from the boot of Max Titchener. 

Given the amount of rain that had fallen in recent weeks, it was refreshing to see the sun make an appearance, and despite the pitch being boggy in parts, both sides were keen to play an expansive game. 

However, it was understandably a cagey opening first five minutes as both teams looked to settle into a rhythm, with the nerves being evident. 

With their defeat at Quins back in October still fresh in the minds, Henley slowly began to assert their authority on the game, which was helped somewhat by the Quins discipline which saw them penalised eight times in the first half alone. 

The pressure told near the ten-minute mark when a lineout in the Quins 22 saw prop Moses Fakatou charge through a gap in the visitors defence to open the scoring. Titchener converted and Henley had their noses in front at 7-0. 

It got even better for the home side several minutes later when a superb pass from Toby Howe gave Lailand Gordon space out wide, and his deft pass to Oscar Busby saw the wing over the whitewash for the Hawks second. Titchener was narrowly off target with his conversion from out wide. 

Henley were playing with real confidence and scored a third try on the quarter mark when Leo Webb wriggled his way through some half-hearted tackles to run in from some 30-yards out. With Titchener adding the extras, Henley had built an imposing 19-0 lead. 

And the bonus point was secured with half an hour gone when centre Callum Jones cut a great line to tear through the porous Quins defense dot down under the sticks. 

To their credit, Quins fought back and got themselves on the scoreboard on 35-minutes when flanker Fin Boarder was the man to dot down following a powerful driving maul. 

However, any joy was short-lived, as Henley grabbed a fifth just before the halftime whistle when Benning powered over from close range. Titchener converted and the Hawks had built an excellent 33-5 lead at the break. 

The second half started in a similar fashion to the first with Henley back in the ascendency, and were soon rewarded when Benning's quick-tap penalty on the 5 metre line saw the powerful Number 8 barrel his way over for his second of the game. 

A raft of substitutions seemed to stem the tide for a while, but the Hawks rediscovered their momentum on the hour mark when replacement flanker Morgan Poiner did brilliantly to wrestle his way through the Quins defence to dot down for Henley's seventh of the game. Again Titchener duly obliged with the extras, and Henley were running rampant at 47-7. 

However, Quins refused to lie down and kept asking questions of the Henley defence. Their patience was rewarded on 66-minutes when their fullback Ross Cooke spotted a gap in the Hawks defence, and his impressive turn of speed saw him cross for the visitors second. 

With the game petering out, Henley found themselves back on the attack in the closing stages, and they crossed the 50-point mark when Titchener's clever kick through was well gathered by Busby, and he put the finishing touches on a fine team performance. 

It was a richly deserved win for Henley, who had run the top sides close in recent weeks. It will also give them a much-needed confidence boost heading into Saturday's crucial showdown at Esher. 

With both Esher and Sevenoaks losing, it also means that Henley have clawed back the deficit between the three sides heading into a vital fortnight for Luke Allen's team.

Henley Hawks

Tries: Fakatou 7, Busby 15, 79, Webb 20, Jones 33, Benning 39, 51, Poiner 60

Conversions: Titchener 8, 21, 3, 40, 52, 61, 80

Howe, Busby, Jones, Leach, Gordon, Titchener, Webb (White 57), Fakatou (Shpylka 61), Hayhow (Delaney 55), Shpylka (Bailey 34), Elsey (Taylor 62), Goodison, S White, Brown (Poiner 55), Benning (Brown 70)

Reps: Taylor, Poiner, O White, Delaney, Bailey

Oxford Quins

Tries: Boarder 35, Cooke 66

Conversions: Jenkins 67

Cooke (Sayer 69), Burn, Haines, Sayer (Brian 61), Verende, Jenkins, Davies, Archer (Wright 72), Irwin, Jeffries (Cashman 72), Jenkins, Purchase, Cassidy (Knight 62), Boarder, Knight (McNally 49)

Reps: Cashman, Wright, McNally, Ireland, Brian

Referee: Max Marshall  

Match photos courtesy of Holly Hallett available here.