Hawks sink into drop zone after stormy South Coast battle

HENLEY Hawks came away empty-handed from their clash with Havant on Saturday afternoon in atrocious conditions on the South Coast.

It was another bitterly disappointing afternoon for Henley, who were just a point behind the hosts with a minute to play, but a converted try in injury time for Havant saw the Hawks leave with nothing to show for their efforts.

In the driving wind and rain, it was always going to be a game for the purists, but it was the home side who adapted quicker to the conditions. This was helped by Henley’s poor discipline, which saw them give away a raft of penalties in the early exchanges.

Thankfully for Henley, Havant’s line-out was proving to be pretty ineffectual. However, the one time it did click into gear, a great crossfield kick from Joel Knight was well gathered by wing Sam Trodd, but he was prevented from grabbing the first score of the game thanks to a fantastic try-saving tackle from George Wood.

The home side continued to assert their dominance on the match and were rewarded on 10 minutes when Joel Knight kicked them into the lead with a well-struck penalty.

Henley were continuing to fall foul of the referee’s whistle, and yet more pressure in their own 22 wasn’t capitalised upon by Havant, who just couldn’t get their line-out to function.

Henley slowly worked their way back into the contest, and with a dominant scrum, managed to find good field position. An Ollie Snook penalty on the half-hour mark levelled the scores at 3-3 and that’s how it stayed until the break.

The second half continued in the same vein as the first, with Henley struggling to adapt to the referee’s interpretation of the laws. The hosts re-took the lead on 49 minutes with another Knight penalty to make it 6-3.

Shortly afterwards, the game was stopped for a good
20 minutes following a potentially serious neck injury to Havant flanker Jack Colbourne, who had to be stretchered from the field. The break in play seemed to galvanise the home side and they were rewarded with yet another Knight penalty, which given the conditions and the Hawks’ inability to put together much in the way of an attacking threat, was a significant lead at 9-3.

Heading into the final
10 minutes, Henley wrestled back the advantage and prolonged pressure in the Havant 22 saw Oskar White spot a gap in the Havant defence to crash over from close range.

Crucially, Snook was wide with the tough conversion attempt in the driving rain and Havant were still ahead by a solitary point at 9-8 with a few minutes remaining. Despite Henley trying desperately to regain possession, the home side saw the game out well.

With a penalty advantage, Knight turned down a kickable three points to opt for the attacking line-out instead.

This time, there was no mistake, as Wes Dugan was the man to dot down following a powerful driving maul. With Knight adding the extras, it moved Havant eight points clear at 16-8 and meant Henley were now out of losing bonus point territory.

With the referee blowing the final whistle, it was yet another frustrating afternoon for the Henley faithful in what is proving to be a very tough season so far.

The loss leaves Henley second from bottom of National 2 East, and with difficult questions needing to be asked on how they can turn the tide.

With a rest weekend coming up, head coach Luke Allen’s side will have time to lick their wounds before the visit of high-flying Bury St Edmunds to Dry Leas on December 6.

Henley Hawks: 15 Wood, 14 Gordon, 13 C Hayhow, 12 Leach,
11 Busby, 10 Snook, 9 Webb, 1 Bailey, 2 S. Hayhow, 3 Fakatou, 4 Elsey,
5 Lunnon, 6 Goodison, 7 S. White,
8 Benning. Replacements: 16 Sitchel, 17 Shpylka, 18 Howe, 19 O White,
20 Poiner.