Hawks coach delighted as victory lifts side out of drop zone

RELIEVED Henley Hawks head coach Luke Allen said last Saturday’s home win against Esher was “one for the soul” following a dark few weeks for the club.

Allen saw his side move out of the National League Division 2 East relegation zone after putting in their best performance of the season to defeat the Surrey side 47-12 at Dry Leas.

Seven tries by the hosts — including two each for Toby Howe and Will Benning and
12 points from the trusted boot of Will Baildon — saw Henley move up to 10th place in the table as they enter the first weekend break of the season.

Speaking this week following the win, Allen said: “We had a soul-searching session with the team and they responded, putting pride back into the shirt. It was one for the soul, I was really happy.

“As a coach you start to question yourself but the boys showed they have got the quality.

“We have had our fair share of injuries but on Saturday the young lads showed up, the more senior players took responsibility and I couldn’t have been prouder. The difference was we were hungry for everything.

“We challenged for every 50/50 ball, at the breakdown we attacked hard and defensively we were on top and in their faces, forcing mistakes.”

Allen, who made several changes to his starting line-up, added: “We talked this week about getting an extra one per cent from players.

“It is not good enough just training Tuesday and Thursdays, you have to be doing more when you are away from the club. Equally players need to be looking at their eating habits and making sure they are getting enough sleep — all these things make a difference.

“We are not getting ahead of ourselves, the standard of training this week has to be maintained. Players have to hold themselves accountable and if something is not going right, they need to speak to each other.”

Going into the match, the Hawks were on their worst run of results since 2016 having lost five games on the spin. Allen added: “In my tenure as a coach and player, I have never seen any Henley side in that position in the league. The last time was back in 2016 in National Division 1.”

Henley Hawks are without a fixture this weekend and they are back in action on November 8 with a trip to Sevenoaks. Allen said: “We are pleased to have a week off. I want the team to come back firing for our fixtures leading up to Christmas.”