Injuries mount as Hawks suffer derby day defeat

HENLEY Hawks suffered their fifth successive National Division 2 East defeat as they came up short against a well-drilled Oxford Harlequins side last Saturday.

The Hawks were not at the races, with poor discipline being a major contributing factor in their defeat against a Quins side who showed a greater level of intensity to get themselves across the line.

The early exchanges were scrappy with neither side playing with any fluency. However, the home side slowly began to assert their dominance on proceedings and took the lead after eight minutes when ex-Hawk Harry Burn took advantage of a quick line-out, and with the Henley defence caught napping, he worked an opening to cross the whitewash. Kieran Jenkins was narrowly wide with his conversion attempt.

This early setback seemed to wake Henley up and following a line-out on the home side’s 22, the ball was spun wide to Ollie Snook who did well to find space to dot down. Will Baildon was off target with the extras, but Henley had levelled at 5-5.

Unfortunately for the Hawks, they lost both Lailand Gordon and George Wood to injury during a 10-minute spell midway through the first half, and with only one recognised back on the bench in the form of Matt Cooke, had to move Will Benning into a makeshift centre for the remainder of the match. To compound their fortune, Leo Webb was also yellow carded for a deliberate knock-on.

This disruption was pounced upon by the home side. Firstly, Jenkins added a penalty to edge Quins back in front, before two tries in five minutes took the wind out of the Hawks’ ambitions.

Moving the ball out wide with the man advantage, Quins wing AJ McCoubrey finished well in the corner, and this was closely followed by a rolling maul try which saw flanker John Ireland the man to dot down. With Jenkins adding the extras, Quins had pulled clear to a 20-5 lead at the break. As has often been the case in recent weeks, Henley started the second half showing far more intensity to their game, playing with a greater tempo and precision than the first half. They were rewarded when Webb scored the Hawks’ second of the afternoon with a try out wide.

This spurred Henley on, and they secured a third try on 54 minutes when Cooke did well to evade the Quins defence to cross the whitewash. With Baildon on target this time with his conversion, the Hawks were right back in the game at 20-17 with a quarter of the match remaining.

However, Quins soon found a foothold back in the contest. Firstly, fly half Toby Haines ghosted his way through the middle of the Henley defence to dot down under the sticks before two late Jenkins penalties created daylight on the scoreboard at 33-17. And this is how it remained.

Henley Hawks: 15 Wood, 14 Busby, 13 Webb, 12 Snook, 11 Gordon, 10 Baildon, 9 White, 1 Collins, 2 Hayhow, 3 Fakatou, 4 Elsey, 5 Lunnon, 6 Goodison, 7 Noone, 8 Benning. Replacements: 16 Kinniburgh, 17 Adablah, 18 Taylor, 19 S. White, 20 Cooke.