Hawks Face Westcliff at Home

Henley Hawks are at home again on Saturday for their latest National 2 East fixture. Essex club Westcliff RFC are the visitors this week and the kick off at Dry Leas is 3.00pm.

The Hawks got the job last week against a disappointing Old Albanian side. The Old Boys had been playing well and chalked up some impressive wins but they were blown away by the Hawks in the second half. The Hawks produced one of their best performances of the season and their commitment and ‘togetherness’ were outstanding. They will now be looking at this weeks Westcliff game to build some winning momentum as following this week, the Hawks the play the top three sides, Blackheath, Worthing and Dorking in the next three weeks. They will certainly be targeting a bonus point win against the leagues bottom club.

Head coach Luke Allen has again gone for consistency and has made just three changes to the starting line up for the Westcliff clash. In the backs, the only change is speedster Reuben Norville returning to wing, replacing Seb Scott.

In the forwards, Henry Penrose comes in at prop for his first start of the season while Ben Harrison returns to the second row. Ollie Frostick, Omar Ellaboudy and Ewan Fenley all return to the bench.

Henley Hawks

15 George Wood, 14 Reuben Norville, 13 Adam Hakimian, 12  Louis Flynn 11 Ryan Crowley,

10 Max Titchener, 9 Will Crow

1 Henry Penrose, 2 Tom Emery, 3 Kaleem Niazi, 4 Sam Lunnon, 5 Ben Harrison,

6 Scott White, 7 Morgan Macrae, 8 Tom Vooght,

Reps: 16 Ollie Frostick, 17 Omar Ellaboudy, 18 Marcus Lowe, 19 Ewan Fenley , 20 Leo Webb

Westcliff have struggled somewhat since their promotion to National 2 level. So far this season they have failed to register a victory in seventeen games and sit at the bottom of the table. They didn’t play last week but the week before lost 108-3 to Dorking. Back in October,

Henley travelled to Westcliff and eventually ran out 38-24 winners. However they didn’t have everything their own way and the Essex side kept pace with the Hawks for an hour.

Despite their position in the league, Westcliff will be competitive and eager to claim their first win so the Hawks will need to treat them with respect.

There were just three other games elsewhere in the league last weekend. Blackheath consolidated their lead at the top with a 36-12 win over Sevenoaks. They are now thirteen points clear of second placed Dorking who lost at Worthing who are now third. Bury St Edmunds beat North Walsham in the other game. Henley’s win over Old Albanian leaves them still in sixth place, just seven points behind Dorking.

There is a game tonight (Friday) at Dry Leas. The Henley Vikings (3^rd XV) have their latest league game against Rams 3^rd. Rams are currently top of the league and the Vikings are fifth so a good ‘local derby’ is in store. Kick off under the floodlights is 7.30pm.

The Henley Bulls (2^nd XV) are in action on Saturday. They take on Ampthill 2^nd XV, again at Dry Leas with a kick off at 1.00pm.

The Henley Hawks Women play on Sunday. They have a league game against Bath and the kick off at Dry Leas is 2pm.