Henley Hawks mini sides shine at south coast tournament

HENLEY Hawks’ minis — from U8s to U11s — competed in their end-of-seas tour at Osmington Bay last weekend.

More than 80 tourists and their parents departed Dry Leas on Friday last week to compete at Bournemouth RFC’s tournament on Sunday against teams such as Bournemouth Lions, Fordingbridge, Camelot, New Milton and Eastleigh Trojans.

Henley U11s entered two teams which played some good running rugby, winning six out of their eight games.

The tournament also saw the final matches for female players Zara Tate and Rosie Mills, as the joint age group ends this year.

The U11s leading try scorers throughout were Harry Moynihan and Jethro Cock.

Henley U10s had 28 players competing in three teams, each going unbeaten and winning all of their 12 games.

This exceptional feat was thanks to the solid defence and some big hits from Orson Taylor, Ben Tomkins, Tom Yglesia and Harry Oakley. Try scorers for the U10s included Hugo Boyd-Carpenter, Angus Pearce Harvey, Balthazar Leacock Walsh, Eli Heywood, Bodhi Gyoker, Harry Collin, Finley Davison, Ollie Cook, Arthur Sturgess and Louis Renwick-Forster. Henley U9s also went undefeated as their opponents could not match their organisation in defence and flair in attack.

The two Henley U9s teams had wins against Bournemouth Lions, Camelot, New Milton and Trojans with the leading try scorers being William Lamacraft, Toby Wood and Will Leopard.

Henley U8s, who had two sides entered, had a fine tournament, winning six of their eight matches played.

Both team played some fast attacking tag rugby and were stolid in defence with the
leading try scorers including Charlie Oakley, Leo Franklin, Rex Keitz, Teddy Baxter and Jack Taylor.

The tour was sponsored by Henley estate agents Knight Frank.