Henley 3s 59-22 Windsor 2s
By David Lewis
It was a welcome return to league rugby last weekend after a testing friendly match against the University of Oxford the previous week. Playing a re-scheduled game from September, Windsor were happily able to field a team against Henley, after player shortages previously.
Kicking off with 14 players due to stragglers, Windsor were exposed immediately and back row, Henry Brothers for Henley, was able to open up an immediate hole in Windsor’s defence, with a straightforward conversion for fly-half Alex Clark.
A further prompt try from Will Kemble, converted by Clark and another by Captain, Ed Houghton, saw Henley ahead by 21 points within only 20 minutes played. Next up on the scoring line was Toby Robertson without a conversion and then Brothers again. This repetitive scoring by Henley was as a result of playing very open play with prompt handling between all the players.
Windsor were not completely undone and scored themselves twice before half time, with one conversion, although Henley’s Furio Dawkins bagged a try and Clark not only converted but proceeded to score a try himself and convert. The half-time score stood at 47-12 in Henley’s favour.
Windsor undoubtedly had the stronger pack, and it was this that enabled them to start pulling the game back in their favour; they also refused to concede by defending well as much as they were able. With a push over try by the Windsor Captain, Windsor were still in the game and then scored again as Henley let their guard down.
But with further Henley tries from Ben Jewsbury and Dawkins again, the final score was 59-22 to Henley. It was a fine performance by Henley 3’s, which is proving to be a real success as a development squad for Henley.
Match photos courtesy of Matt Mann.
