Hawks in confident mood ahead of Rochford Clash

With only three games of the league season left, Henley Hawks travel this week to Essex to take on Rochford Hundred RFC. Kick -off at Rochford’s ground in Hawkwell, Essex is 3pm.

The Hawks win last week was their third in a row and they remain in fifth place in the league. If they win the last three games of the season, there is a chance they could finish higher. The victory against Sevenoaks was not the best performance but it was a bonus point win and that is what the side are after in each game.

Henley had plenty of possession but struggled at times for fluency and creativity to break down the Sevenoaks defence.

When they did get the ball wide, George Wood and Leo Webb showed some excellent running with Wood scoring a brilliant solo try, one of the best seen at Dry Leas this season. Henley will be looking to give them the ball more often. George Wood scored one of the tries of the season.

The last two games have been against teams fighting for their league survival and this week will be no different. That said, the Hawks are finishing the season well. Three wins on the bounce and three more games that are all winnable, so Henley will go to Essex in confident mood.

Rochford are another team who are desperate for points at the bottom end of the table so they will be well up for the game this week. So far this season, they have not found life in National 2 easy and have only won five of their 23 games. Back in December, they put up a good performance at Dry Leas only losing to the Hawks 32-22. In last week’s round of matches, they went down 50-31 in the Channel Islands to Guernsey.

Head coach Luke Allen has made five changes to the starting line-up for the Rochford trip, two of those positional.

In the backs, speedster Reuben Norville returns to the wing, with Louis Flynn moving back into the centre in place of Adam Hakimian.

The forwards see Morgan Macrae starting at hooker, the position he finished at last week. Charlie Sichel provides bench cover.

Omar Ellaboudy comes into the second row, replacing Sam Lunnon while Marcus Lowe returns to the back row.

Last season, Rochford won the game at Dry Leas 27-24 but the Hawks gained revenge in Essex later in the season.

Elsewhere this weekend, the Henley Bulls (2nd XV) are still looking for a fixture but the Henley Vikings (3rd XV) are at home. They have a re-arranged game against Reading 2nds. Kick-off at Dry Leas is 3pm.

On Sunday, Henley Hawks Women have their last league game of the season away at Beckenham RFC. Kick-off there is 2.30pm.

The Henley Hawks line-up is as follows: 15 George Wood, 14 Reuben Norville, 13 Louis Flynn, 12 Max Titchener, 11 Leo Webb, 10 Cail Cookland, 9 Ewan Fenley

1 Ollie Frostick, 2 Morgan Macrae, 3 Rory Mason, 4 Omar Ellaboudy, 5 Ben Harrison, 6 Marcus Lowe, 7 Tom Vooght, 8 Alex Bradley.

Replacements: 16 Charlie Sichel, 17 Dave Manning, 18 Scott White, 19 Adam Hakimian, 20 Will Crow, 21 Seb Scott.