Hawks in seventh heaven after stopping rot with home victory

HENLEY Hawks put their poor recent run of form behind them with a sensational seven-try victory against Esher at Dry Leas last Saturday.

It was arguably the best Henley performance in well over a year as they matched physicality with flair in a committed performance that saw them bounce back to winning ways in style.

Braces from Toby Howe and Will Benning, along with 12 points from the boot of Will Baildon, helped Henley over the line and significantly lifted the mood around Dry Leas.

It was the home side who looked assured right from the off, making hard yards through the middle of the Esher defence. A break from Baildon saw the Hawks into the visitors’ 22, and his deft offload to Howe gave the speedy wing space to finish well in the corner. Baildon’s touchline conversion made it 7-0 lead after seven minutes on the clock.

However, the Surrey side hit back almost instantly with a similar try of their own. Wing James Botterill did well to fend off the Henley defence to cross the whitewash out wide but Seb Cox was narrowly wide with his conversion attempt to level the scores. From there on in, Henley found another gear and were relentless in their attacking play. Howe did excellently to gather a pinpoint Ollie Snook crossfield kick to dot down in the tightest of spaces. Again Baildon added the extras with another touchline conversion.

Henley kept applying pressure and were rewarded with a third try on 35 minutes when Benning collected a Kadeem Collins offload to dive over the line following a good break from the loosehead into the Esher 22.

Collins was at his rampaging best just a couple of minutes later when another powerful 30-yard break from the prop saw him crash over out wide for a fine solo effort. Baildon was off target with the extras, but Henley had built a 26-5 lead at the interval.

That lead was extended just two minutes into the second half when a quick tap penalty from Leo Webb caught Esher napping, with the scrum half sniping his way through the visitors’ defence to dot down under the posts. Baildon converted and there was seemingly no way back for the away side at 33-5. With the visitors’ discipline now failing them, and Henley’s defensive line proving impenetrable, the home side took advantage with two more converted tries. First, Benning grabbed his second when he spotted a gap in the Esher defence to power over from close range following an excellent driving maul. And this was soon followed by captain Spencer Hayhow’s excellent effort on the hour mark to make it
47-5.

With a raft of substitutions disrupting the flow of play, the last quarter became a stop-start affair, which wasn’t helped by yellow cards to Nelly Kinniburgh, Collins and Zack Taylor. Esher took advantage and grabbed a late consolation effort through Bart Godsell, but it was too little, too late as Luke Allen’s men had secured a statement victory.

Henley now have a rest weekend and are next in action on November 8 when they make the trip to Kent to face Sevenoaks.

Henley Hawks: Baildon, Howe, Leach (O White, 52 mins), C Hayhow (Leach, 63 mins), Busby, Snook (Titchener, 63 mins), Webb, Collins (Adablah, 40 mins), Hayhow S, Adablah (Fakatou, 28 mins), Elsey (Taylor, 75 mins), Goodison, Taylor (Kinniburgh, 63 mins), S White (Small,
65 mins), Benning.