Wood returns at fullback for tough Canterbury challenge

HENLEY Hawks begin the year with a tough visit to East Kent to take on Canterbury tomorrow (Saturday) at the Marine Travel Ground, kick-off 3pm.

After the festive break, the Hawks will be keen to get back out on the pitch to build on their morale-boosting performance against Barnes last time out.

However, they will be under no illusions of the task in front of them as Canterbury are undoubtedly one of the form sides in National 2 East this season. The two sides met at Dry Leas back in September and it was the Kent side who came out victorious that day, edging past the Hawks 22-17 in a tight battle. Canterbury currently sit in fifth place in the league.

In terms of teams news, Henley Hawks director of rugby Luke Allen has managed to retain the services of Morgan MacRae from Rams. MacRae impressed in the two games he played prior to Christmas, and Allen has secured his involvement for a few more games as Henley aim to claw their way up out of the relegation zone. The impressive Andrew Lamb has been recalled by Rams with George Wood coming back in at fullback.

With a fortnight’s break over the Christmas period, it gave Henley the opportunity to rest some tired bodies. As such, Allen has a relatively healthy squad to pick from. The return of Moses Fakatou and Nelly Kinniburgh into the match-day squad is also a welcome bonus.

The provisional side to face Canterbury is as follows: 1 Louis Bailey, 2 Spencer Hayhow,
3 Edem Adablah, 4 Liam Goodison, 5 Ben Elsey, 6 Zack Taylor, 7 Roan Noone, 8 Sam Lunnon,
9 Leo Webb, 10 Max Titchener, 11 Oscar Busby, 12 Morgan MacRae, 13 Callum Jones,
14 Seb Scott, 15 George Wood. Replacements: 16 Nelly Kinniburgh, 17 Moses Fakatou,

Elsewhere on Saturday, Henley 2nds are at home to Reading Abbey at Dry Leas while the Henley 3rds travel to Reading 2nds, kick-off for both games is 2pm. On Sunday, Hawks Women host Trojans, kick-off 2pm.