Benning’s late double is scant consolation in heavy defeat

A SECOND-HALF onslaught from Bury St Edmunds condemned Henley Hawks to their ninth loss of the season as they ran rampant in an eight-try display at Dry Leas last Saturday.

It was a chastening defeat for the Hawks who looked bereft of confidence and were left asking lots of questions as to how they can turn their season around.

In a relatively event-free first half, it was Henley who got themselves on the scoreboard first with a Max Titchener penalty after five minutes.

Bury hit back and took control of proceedings. With fly-half Ben Penfold pulling the strings, he responded with two penalties of his own to nudge the visitors in front, 6-3 on the
15-minute mark.

Despite being on the back foot, Henley were defending tenaciously, not allowing the visitors to breach their line. Titchener had a couple of tough penalty kicks to draw the game level, but frustratingly for Henley supporters, was narrowly off target on both occasions.

Despite much of the action taking place in the Henley half, Bury just couldn’t quite craft an opening, and the one time they did get over the try line, the Hawks defence did well to hold the ball up.

Henley were proving to be their own worst enemy, as time and again they were falling foul of the referee’s whistle, which allowed Bury to gain more territory and possession.

The pressure finally told on the half-hour mark when Bury hooker Matthew Hicks crossed the whitewash following a powerful driving maul. Penfold was narrowly wide with his conversion but Bury had created daylight on the scoreboard at 11-3, which is how the score remained at the interval.

The second half will be one the Hawks will want to forget as the visitors ran riot, notching up a further seven tries in the process. It was started by centre, Matthew Hema who powered over from close range just a minute after the restart to extend their lead to 18-3 with Penfold adding the extras.

Titchener notched a second penalty to claw back the deficit on 47 minutes, before Bury fullback Euan Rees grabbed their third try after he did well to dot down out wide. A penalty try on the hour secured the bonus point and took their lead to 30-6, before former Hawk Samir Kharbouch added the first of a brace after he picked up a great offload to dot down under the sticks.

With Henley captain Spencer Hayhow receiving his marching orders following a second yellow card, the hosts had to play the rest of the game with 14 men which didn’t help their cause.

However, this setback seemed to spark a resurgence from the home side, with the ever-present Will Benning scoring a quick-fire double for Henley. But it was scant consolation as further scores from wing Tim Andrew and Kharbouch put the icing on the cake for Bury and condemned the Hawks to their worst defeat of the season.

Henley Hawks: Wood, Scott (Howe, 63 mins), Jones, Leach, C Hayhow, Titchener, Webb, Bailey (Shpylka, 30 mins), S Hayhow (Bailey,
62 mins), Fakatou, Elsey (Kinniburgh, 67 mins), Goodison, Basil, White (Lunnon, 54 mins), Benning. Replacements: Kinniburgh, Shpylka, Poiner, Lunnon, Howe.