Hawks just about prevail in thrilling season opener

In what was a real end-to-end contest played in the hot sunshine at Dry Leas on Saturday, Henley Hawks just about prevailed with an encouraging five-point win over resilient Guernsey Raiders.

The Hawks were good value for the win and looked sharp with ball in hand, running in five tries with one a contender for try of the season already.

With plenty of new faces making their league debuts, it was Henley who started the game in the ascendancy and were on the board after just two minutes.

The ever-present Scotty White crashed over the whitewash following some excellent work from Alex Bradley. The conversion from Titchener was narrowly wide. However, the lead was short lived as the visitors hit back instantly with their driving maul being a potent weapon all afternoon. Matt Creber put the finishing touches on a strong drive which was well converted by Tom Teasdale from the touchline to give the Channel Islanders a narrow 7-5 lead.

Henley wrestled back the initiative with a well-struck Titchener penalty, before Bradley scored a scintillating second on 20 minutes after a superb George Wood break from his own 22. With some slick offloading from both forwards and backs, Bradley gleefully received an excellent inside ball from Sam Lunnon to power his way over. With the conversion nailed by Titchener, Henley now led 15-7.

However, the visitors refused to lie down and scored a second of their own. Henley were struggling to adapt to the new tackle height rules and found themselves once too often on the wrong side of the referee. Another powerful driving maul was well finished by hooker James Burger which pulled the Islanders right back into the contest at 15-14 despite having seen little of the ball.

However, in what was now proving to be a real see-saw contest, the Hawks once again stretched the lead further when centre Seb Scott crashed over from close range following some patient build-up play.

With their tails up, the Hawks were finding gaps in the visitors’ defence with ease. Back again deep within the Raiders 22, the referee had no option but to award Henley a penalty try on the stroke of half-time, which gave the home side their try bonus point. Raiders flanker Dom Rice was subsequently sent to the sin bin after tackling a man off the ball.

With the score now at 30-14 in favour of the Hawks, and with a man advantage, there was a feeling that Henley could run riot in the second half. Yet to their credit, Guernsey fought back valiantly in the first 20 minutes, making it very uncomfortable viewing for the Henley faithful.

With two tries in quick succession, the Raiders brought the score back to 33-28, with a solitary Titchener penalty all the Hawks had to show for a sloppy first 15 minutes of the second period.

With the pressure now on, Henley slowly managed to find the confidence in their game plan which seemed so effortless in the first half. A kick to the corner saw Scotty White touch down for his second of the afternoon and gave the Hawks some breathing space with 15-minutes still to play.

A further Titchener penalty put Henley three scores clear at 43-28 and seemingly with an unassailable lead, yet Guernsey still scrapped for every loose ball and scored their fifth of the afternoon in injury time with replacement Phil Le Noury powering over out wide. The conversion was missed.

Henley managed to see the game out without any further alarm and got their season off to their first winning start since the 2019/20 season when the Hawks beat Sutton & Epsom 46-5.

Henley Hawks: 15 Evans, 14 Strugar (Oatley 60), 13 Scott (McCormick 51), 12 Hakimian, 11 Wood, 10 Titchener, 9 Webb, 1 Collins, 2 Emery (Totic 51), 3 Mason (Frostick 57), 4 Lowe, 5 Lunnon, 6 Benning (Ross 43), 7 White, 8 Bradley. Replacements: 16 Totic, 17 Frostick, 18 Ross, 19 Oatley, 20 McCormick.