Henley 3’s 47-0 Thatcham 2's
By David Lewis
In wet and blustery conditions, Henley 3’s met Thatcham at home for their third league game of the season. Henley 3’s are seen as very much the development side for the club and accordingly fielded a predominantly younger side than Thatcham. The first quarter of an hour from Thatcham’s kick off saw both sides trading attacks and defence equally from the halfway line to Thatcham’s 22 metre line.
Henley’s first try came from player coach, Micky Molloy, playing in the scrum-half position, with a forceful break through Thatcham’s defence off the back of a maul. Fly half Alex Clark converted giving Henley their first 7 points. Only 5 minutes later the same duo with a very similar move from Molloy put Henley ahead by 14 points.
Thatcham defended well but Henley’s attacks were starting to flow well and Max Priest, making a welcome return to the team, added to the score, with Clark’s conversion, making it 21 -0 at half time.
Despite the score, Thatcham mounted their own attacks and at times, it took Henley’s robust defence to keep Thatcham at bay, but they failed to prevent a further break through in the centre by Joe Beesley with Clark converting. This was promptly followed by newcomer Charlie Hardy, playing at hooker, who scored in Thatcham’s corner, which with the weather conditions worsening, presented too much of a challenge for Clark on this occasion.
Thatcham were now truly beaten, and a further combination of Priest and Clark saw 40 points to Henley on the notional scoreboard. As full time approached, the final scoring honours went to team captain, Ed Houghton, with Clark’s conversion and a final score of 47 points to nil to Henley. With this handsome win Henley 3’s assumed their position at the top of the league table with Harwell, whom they have yet to meet trailing by 4 points.
