Philpott kicks final points as Hawks make cup progress

HENLEY Hawks U15s eased into the next round of the Oxfordshire Cup after easing to a 39-5 win at Oxford Harlequins on their advanced grass pitch.

For the first 10 minutes Henley were largely pinned down in their own half by a strong and well organised Oxford attack and battled just to make occasional forays over the halfway line.

However, once Henley had found their rhythm they began to capitalise on some strong pod play by the forwards and eventually some well executed wide ball.

A high tackle by Oxford on their 22m line gave Henley a penalty which Will Huckle converted.

After 20 minutes, continued Henley pressure in and around the Oxford 22 forced a clearance kick from Oxford and a clean take by Josh Costello followed by fine forward support play resulted in a try for Finn Mackenzie in the right corner.

Mackenzie was at the heart of the final play of the half, picking up from the back of a scrum on the Oxford five metre line and was involved twice before Harry Pickford burst over to score next to the posts. Mackenzie Philpot converted for a half-time lead to Henley of 15-0.

Oxford showed renewed strength in the scrums but a quick turnover by Henley just outside their own 22 saw Will Huckle dart to the halfway line before deftly offloading to second row Joe Woolhouse who powered the length of the opposition half to score in the left corner.

Five minutes later Henley had a scrum on their 10m line which was strongly contested by Oxford but replacement scrum half Jonny Savage managed to squeeze the ball out to Will Huckle who followed his pass to Philpot who took the ball at speed, threw a dummy and ran from inside his own half to secure another five points in the left corner for Henley.

With increasing confidence, Henley capitalised from the restart when Joe Woolhouse took a clean catch and offloaded to Matt Boden who eluded the Oxford defenders to make another half-pitch run for Henley and score under the posts. Huckle added a further two points with the conversion.

Despite the set back of conceding two quick tries Oxford didn’t drop their heads and a penalty on the Henley five-metre line after 23 minutes was tapped quickly and earned them their first five points of the game.

The match had one final score left in it and this came from a penalty kick to touch form Philpot which the Henley forwards then secured well from their own line out 10 metres from the Oxford try line.

The maul provided quick ball for Huckle whose superb angle of running took him over the line and under the posts. Philpott added the conversion.

Henley Hawks U15s: Adam Bennett, Harry Pickford, Ben Burke, Harry Tilney Ben Adshead, Murphy Watt, Jacob Spiers, Joe Woolhouse, Oscar Tooley, Finn Mackenzie, Conor Mead, Harry Pickford, Ewan Aiken, Jonty Savage, Will Huckle, Ali Phillis, Mackenzie Philpot, Tom Swan, Declan Reeve, Charlie Ward, Josh Costello, David Stobie.