Leicester Lions 3-33 Henley Hawks Men
By Alistair Beynon
Henley Hawks Men put together their best display of the season so far with a resounding bonus point victory over Leicester Lions on Saturday.
Luke Allen's side looked clinical in attack and defended superbly to restrict the home side to just a solitary penalty kick all game. With the win, Henley move up to sixth place in a hotly contested National 2 East division.
The early exchanges were nervy, with both sides taking time to get a foothold in the game. The Hawks were struggling up front with the larger Lions pack getting the upper hand in the scrum. However, despite having plenty of possession, the home side couldn't find an opening through the Hawks defensive line.
And it was the Hawks who eventually broke the deadlock close to the quarter mark when wing Seb Scott finished well after Jimmy Leach's fantastic break in midfield. Callum Jones, in at Fly Half took over kicking duties, and he calmly slotted the conversion to give the visitors a 7-0 lead.
The home side kept asking questions of the Henley defence, and they narrowed the deficit on 30-minutes when former Hawk Max Titchener's penalty got the home side on the board at 7-3.
Shortly afterwards, Henley were reduced to 14-men after prop Luke Shpylka was yellow carded. However, despite the numerical disadvantage, the Hawks extended their lead further when Fin Basil powered his way through the heart of the hosts defence to dot down by the posts. Jones converted again and Henley had built a priceless 14-3 lead at the break.
It was a similar story to the second half as it was the first, with both sides cancelling each other out and opportunities proving hard to come by. However, with Kadeem Collins, Will Benning and Scott White all coming off the bench, the Hawks began to assert the dominance on proceedings.
With 15-minutes remaining, it was Benning's break into the Lions 22 that put Henley back on the front foot, and his offload to Tom Molhoek saw the fullback ghost his way over the whitewash for the Hawks third try of the game. Jones added the extras, and Henley had built an imposing lead at 21-3.
That lead was extended further just a couple of minutes later when Benning peeled off the back of a driving maul to cross for the bonus point try. Jones was narrowly off target with his conversion attempt.
The hosts were all at sea, and Henley completed the scoring with eight minutes remaining when Max Brown crossed the whitewash following Molhoek's excellent touchline offload gave the flanker a clear sight of the line. Again Jones converted, and Henley were oozing confidence at 33-3.
It was almost a complete performance from the Hawks, with their discipline still causing a few headaches. However, it was undoubtedly a big step in the right direction for Allen's men, but they will be under no illusions that trickier assignments lie ahead.
Next up for the Hawks is the visit to Essex this coming Saturday to take on Colchester. Kick-off at Raven Park is 3pm.
Match photos courtesy of Mark Jones available here.
Henley Hawks
15. Molhoek, 14. Scott, 13. Phillips, 12. Leach, 11. Bello, 10. Jones, 9. Webb, 1. Kinniburgh, 2. Rawcliffe, 3. Shpylka, 4. Elsey, 5. Harrison, 6. Basil, 7. Brown, 8. Lowe
Replacements: 16. Collins, 17. Archer, 18. Benning, 19. Howe, 20. White
