Henley Hawks

Henley Hawks
Full name Henley Rugby Club
Founded August 1930 (1930-08)
Location Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England
Ground(s) Dry Leas (Capacity: 4,000)
Coach(es) Nigel Dudding
League(s) National League 1
2015–16 16th (relegated to National League 2 South)
Team kit
Official website
www.henleyhawks.co.uk

Henley Hawks is a rugby union club based in Henley-on-Thames and is one of the leading rugby clubs in the Thames Valley. The first team will play in the fourth tier of the English league system in 2016–17, following relegation after only one season in National League 1. Promoted as the 2012–13 and 2014–15 champions of National League 2 South, Henley have spent the last four seasons, either promoted or relegated.

History

Henley RFC was founded in August 1930 as Old Henleiensians (old boys of Henley Grammar School). After a break during the war years the club was re-founded in 1954 and changed its name to Henley RFC in 1963. It has been based at Dry Leas since then.

Recent playing record

Henley's fortunes stood still until Clive Woodward, England's future World Cup winning manager, became the 1st XV coach in 1990. His introduction of the "flat ball" philosophy was a pioneering event for British rugby and brought promotion in 1992. Henley gained a further promotion in 1994 to the National Leagues and, after Woodward departed to coach London Irish, Henley continued to play fluid rugby and two further promotions ensued (in the 1997–98 and 1998–99 seasons), landing the club in what is now National Division One. Also in 1999, Henley enjoyed a record run in the Tetley's Bitter Cup, defeating the Premier 1 club Bedford in the fourth round before bowing out to Gloucester at Kingsholm.

Henley finished ninth in National One in 1999–00, seventh in 2000–01 but finished 13th in 2001–02 and were relegated to National Division Two. They regained their place in National One by finishing second in 2002–03 but two years later were relegated back into National Two. After flirting with promotion from National Division Two in season 2006–7, finishing third by one point to Launceston, the following season was little short of disastrous resulting in relegation to National Division 3 (South). Last season, 2009–10 they struggled during the middle part of the season to face further relegation worries but a good finish to the year resulted in a mid-table finish. This season has seen a large improvement on the previous season's performances especially during the middle of the year and the squad are hopeful of a top 6 finish. On 4 May 2013, Henley Hawks beat Worthing 55–27 to secure a place in National Division One for the 2013–14 season.

The Hawks squad is now coached by ex-Hawks players Steve Barnes and Pete Davies.

Current standings

2016–17 National League 2 South Table
Club Played Won Drawn Lost Points for Points against Points diff Try bonus Losing bonus Points
1 Chinnor 15 12 1 2 615 216 399 11 1 62
2 Bishop's Stortford 15 12 0 3 488 279 209 12 2 62
3 Old Elthamians 15 13 0 2 469 272 197 9 0 61
4 Taunton Titans 15 10 1 4 487 385 102 10 2 54
5 Redruth 15 10 0 5 432 317 115 8 1 49
6 Canterbury 15 9 0 6 435 348 87 8 5 49
7 Redingensians Rams 15 7 1 7 367 308 59 4 5 39
8 Clifton 15 8 0 7 333 424 -91 4 2 38
9 Cinderford 15 7 1 7 342 372 -30 8 4 37[b 1]
10 Bury St Edmunds 15 6 0 9 347 413 -66 5 3 32
11 Henley Hawks 15 5 0 10 351 453 -102 4 3 27
12 London Irish Wild Geese 15 4 0 11 339 464 -125 8 3 27
13 Worthing Raiders 15 5 0 10 307 415 -108 2 4 26
14 Barnstaple 15 5 1 9 273 482 -209 3 1 26
15 Barnes 15 2 2 11 282 434 -152 5 4 21
16 Exmouth 15 1 1 13 287 572 -285 5 3 14
  • If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order:
  1. Number of matches won
  2. Difference between points for and against
  3. Total number of points for
  4. Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams
  5. Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled
Green background is the promotion place. Blue background is the play-off place. Pink background are relegation places.
Updated: 10 December 2016
Source: "National League 2 South". NCA Rugby. 
Notes
  1. ↑
    • Cinderford were deducted 5 points for fielding unregistered players against Canterbury on 3 September 2016.[1]

Ground

The ground is leased from the Town Council with the unexpired portion being nearly fifty years. When the leagues were started in 1987 Henley were placed in South West II. Henley have developed a working relationship with London Wasps, who use Dry Leas for their A-team matches, and also loan squad players to Henley for development.

Club honours

1st Team:

3rd Team:

4th Team:

Notable players

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Club Discipline Season 2016-2017". NCA. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
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