Henley Hawks 17-26 Old Albanian

By Alistair Beynon

Despite a valiant effort against the current National 2 East league leaders, Henley Hawks were ultimately outgunned by a committed and physical OAs side who underlined their promotion credentials with a hard fought victory. 

It was a bitter pill to swallow for the Hawks, who had looked the better side in the first half, but left empty handed after the visitors pulled away in the last quarter. 

However, there will be plenty of positives for Hawks Director of Rugby Luke Allen and his coaches to take from their performance. And had it not have been for a couple of missed tackles and knock-ons at crucial moments, they would have been celebrating an excellent victory. As it is, Henley were left frustrated after yet another courageous performance ended in defeat. 

It was the visitors who were quickest out of the blocks, and took the lead with just a minute on the clock when centre Stephen Hihetah bulldozed his way through some halfhearted tackled to cross out wide. However, the Hawks weren’t fazed by the early set-back and slowly worked their way back into the match with Sam Lunnon, Callum Jones and Lailand Gordon all making hard yards.

The home side levelled the scores with 15-minutes gone when an excellent Max Titchener cross-field kick was excellently gathered by Gordon, and his deft offload to Jones saw the centre dive over in the corner. 

Henley were now in the ascendency and punching holes through the middle of the visitors defence. A penalty advantage within the OAs 22 saw the Hawks go for the attacking lineout, and from the resulting ruck, scrum half Leo Webb sniped his way round the corner to dot down. Titchener converted and Henley were in front at 12-5. 

The Hertfordshire side rarely troubled the Hawks defence in the first half, but they levelled the scores just before the break when Henley were sliced open too easily in midfield for Ben Morrow to put the finishing touches on a well-worked try. Sam Jones converted and it was 12-12 at the interval.

The second half was a cagey affair with both sides cancelling each other out, but it was OAs who regained the advantage when wing Josh Skelcey managed to dive over in the narrowest of spaces out wide, and with Jones' excellent conversion, made it 19-12 with a quarter of the game remaining. 

Henley refused to yield and pulled a score back when Webb grabbed his second of the game following an excellent George Wood break. Titchener was narrowly off target with the extras meaning Henley were two points behind at 19-17. 

Frustratingly for the home side, the players had to come off the field due to floodlight failure which seemed to stifle any momentum they had built. And with the game in the balance when they came back out 15-minutes later, it was the away side who found another gear, when second row Al Horne powered his way over from close range. Jones converted and the visitors had crucially built a two score lead at 26-17.

Despite opportunities to pull a try back within the last few minutes, Henley couldn't capitalise, crucially knocking the ball on in excellent positions. And instead of coming away with two bonus points for their efforts, which is certainly what their performance deserved, they left empty handed. 

However, Allen's side will lick their wounds and go again this coming Saturday with yet another tough away trip, this time to second placed Oundle. 

Henley Hawks

Tries: Jones 15, Webb 26, 58

Conversions: Titchener 27

Wood, Scott, Jones (Busby 56), Gordon, Titchener, Webb, Fakatou, Hayhow, Adablah (Shpylka 31), Goodison (Benning 38), Elsey, Basil (Bailey 40), White S, Lunnon (White O 61)

Replacements: Shpylka (Adablah 64), Bailey, Benning, Busby, White O

Old Albanian

Tries: Hihetah 1, Morrow 36, Skelcey 52, Horne 69

Conversions: Jones 37, 53, 70

Noot, Morrow, Jones, Hihetah (Nurse 59), Skelcey, Lound, McPhun, Ramzanpour (Curtis 27), Alexander (Fleckney 54), Samuel (Stirling 27), Horne, Charter, Radovanovic (Alexander 63), Ponsford (Radovanovic 64), Florestein (Speller 63

Replacements: Fleckney, Curtis (Ramzanpour 66), Stirling (Samuel 66), Speller, Nurse

Referee: Harry Parsons