Bello hat-trick helps Hawks maintain unbroken league campaign

WITH Marlow having replaced Maidenhead as second place in the league last week, Henley faced another top of the table clash.

Marlow had been on a fine run of form since their last meeting in November. With a nice fast track it had all the ingredients of great local derby.

Marlow started the stronger and were on the front foot straightaway. They were direct and made Henley work hard in defence. They were soon rewarded for the hard work, scoring out wide.

Henley hardly had a touch of the ball for the first ten minutes. They did get a score back when they forced a mistake on the Marlow line out throw and Nelly Kinninbugh crashed over.

Henley did start to grow into their rhythm, a bit of space saw the dangerous Zack Wickes use his footwork before feeding Sam Allen to finish out wide. The backs were finding a bit of space and on the front foot, Aaron Bello made a great break but was caught just short.

Two phases later, he got himself into a great position to crash over. Next on the scoresheet was captain Lucas Braithwaite, who somehow managed to find a hole through the middle of the pack before side-stepping the last defender to score a great individual try. Henley’s last try of the half came from Allen, a powerful break saw him have to ride through an accidental high tackle from a Marlow player before guiding his way over.

Henley were having a bad day from the tee. Although the half-time score was 27-5, it was a much closer affair.

Henley kicked off the second half and were looking to pick the pace up. Good work from the forwards saw them carry close to the line, with the advantage fly half Joe Pattison putting in a great cross field kick for Henry Gibbins to collect and score.

Good hard yards from the forwards saw Marlow give a penalty away close to the line. Kinniburgh took the tap penalty and powered his way over. Marlow were then able to have some possession of the ball, they were direct and a couple of strong carries saw them close in towards the try line. Though Henley defended well, they could not stop the powerful centre from scoring.

Henley then picked up the tempo again, they were aggressive in the counter ruck which saw them turnover the ball, Pattison throw a lovely pass that saw Zack Mancey stroll in untouched. They were getting off the line well, causing problems before 17-year-old Gabriel Shaw collected an interception and sprinted in. Bello was next on the scoresheet with a 50-metre break, using his power and speed to dot down under the posts.

It was not long after that he had his hat-trick, a lovely gliding ark to finish off good work from the forwards. The last score came from restart, Braithwaite on the wing sprinted around the onrushing defence, he drew the last man and sent Ross Lewis in to score under the posts.

They did try hard to get another one before the end but fell just short. The final score 72-12, with two games left to try and go for an unbeaten league campaign.