Reading Abbey have no answer to Henley 2nds

HENLEY 2nds moved up to second place in South West Counties 1 Tribute Ale Southern North with a comfortable 65-0 win against local rivals Reading Abbey in a rearranged game at Dry Leas last Saturday.

Abbey started off strongly and were all over Henley, not allowing them a chance to breathe. They kept bashing at the Henley defence, but were met with a brick wall as Liam Goodison, Charlie Sichel and Roan Noone put in some big tackles.

Abbey kept the pressure up on Henley for the first 15 minutes, before Henley were able to break free and relieve the pressure.

This took them into the Abbey half for the first time, and they were clinical, leaving with a try from Lucas Braithwaite.

Henley were soon back with another score, Adam Porter straightening the line, before the ball was recycled for Beesley to offload to Isaac Small who crashed over.

Porter was next on the scoresheet sheet, leaving the defence stretched trying to chase him down. The final try of the half came from Soli Whittaker. The last play of the half saw Edem Adablah injure his knee and he had to leave the field with Henley 24-0 up.

Henley started the second half brightly with their aggressive line speed in defence seeing Whittaker take an interception to sprint in from 40 metres out.

From the resulting kick off, Henley put their best team phases together to allow Sichel to run down the wing where he was caught just short but popped the ball up to allow Will Cassar to score.

Whittaker then completed his hat-trick with a neat move outpacing a defender. The next two tries were both finished by Cassar to complete his treble and second hat-trick of the season.

Braithwaite was next in after some good support lines and the ability to be able to keep the ball alive never allowed the defence to settle. The final try of the match went to Toby Howe, who read the play well to gain an interception and sprint in.