Baildon bags treble as Henley win derby clash

NEWLY-PROMOTED Henley 2nds started their Counties 1 Tribute Ale Southern North season with a home win against local rivals Reading at Dry Leas last Saturday.

The hosts started strongly with Jake Rawcliffe, captaining the side, putting in a strong first tackle along with Zack Taylor to put Henley on the front foot.

The ball was moved swiftly out to the wing where Morgan Poiner showed good speed when he put a kick through and was unlucky not to score. From the resulting drop out, Oscar Busby found himself some space and showed strength to avoid the tackles to score on his debut.

Busby was soon back in action when he showed his speed and game understanding to feed the ball to Poiner who was not to be denied a try.

The home team were starting to play with more freedom and were able to put pace on the ball. Another debutant scored next, Moses Fakatou crashing over after a quick tap penalty from Matt Cooke.

The next try was created from a blindside attack, Luke Shypkla set off down the touch line before finding Scott White inside where he drew the last defender to give Taylor a stroll in.

Oskar White and Cooke were dictating play well and the forwards were giving the backs a good platform to play from. Will Baildon scored on the stroke of half-time to put Henley 27-0 ahead.

Early in the second half the visitors were rewarded with a try as Henley’s discipline let them down. Henley did bounce back and played some good rugby, building phases and putting Reading under pressure.

The hosts’ next try came from Reading trying to clear their lines as a kick went straight to Sam Allen who powered his way into the 22-metre area. The ball was recycled and then found its way to Baildon who cruised in for his second try of the afternoon.

Soon after Baildon scored his hat-trick. Following good forward pressure, Baildon, in a one-on-one situation, stepped his way to touch down under the posts to put Henley 41-5 ahead with 25 minutes to go.

A mixture of Reading upping the level of physical play and Henley’s ill-discipline saw the hosts barely touch the ball for the rest of the game.

Henley received two cards due to a build-up of penalties before the Reading’s left winger found space and took his chances to score a hat-trick. Despite this, Henley won by 19 points to gain a bonus point win.