Henley 39 - Taunton 7 (Match Report)

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Taunton suffered their first taste of defeat in their 2011-12 National Two South league campaign with a 39-7 loss away to Henley Hawks.

After a long journey into the heart of Oxfordshire the team were greeted with warm but breezy conditions for their first match away from home. They shot out of the blocks at the kick off, fashioning an early chance for Tony Yapp to have a drop at goal. His kick was narrowly wide but play was pulled back for a penalty when the home defence encroached over the offside line. However Yapp could only watch as his kick was blown agonisingly off target by the strong wind.

Henley’s Danny Wells was to have more luck with his penalty attempt to open the scoring after prop Alec Chase was penalised for slapping the ball out of the hands of the scrum half as he looked to play his backline away.

This settled the hosts and they pieced together wave after wave of attacks. Taunton matched them in defence with some ferocious tackling from all quarters. Dan Johnson worked hard with some effective first-up tackles, and made a nuisance of himself at the breakdown alongside his back row colleagues. Matt Humphries performed in similar fashion from the midfield.

It was not all Henley at this stage, with Taunton also looking to unlock the home defence every time they had the ball in hand. Understandably, it was not to be a simple proposition and things were not made any easier when the usual Exocet-like defence of Dean Taylor-Menzies saw him trapped on the wrong side of a breakdown and his interference with play resulted in a yellow card for the former Clifton player.

With Taunton now a man down Henley were quick to take advantage by extending their lead when the resultant penalty was prodded into the corner for a line out close to the visitors’ line. Second row James Winterbottom got the touch down after being driven over by the powerful Henley pack with Wells adding the conversion.

A second try was added minutes later when Henley fly half Thomas Allen spotted a gap in the stretched Taunton defence and darted through to score under the posts. The conversion was a formality for Wells and the home side now had a healthy 17-point lead.

Parity in numbers was briefly restored when a Taunton attack was thwarted illegally as Yapp went close to the line before setting the ball back only for Henley hooker Anthony Brennan to scoop the ball away. He received a yellow card and both sides now had fourteen players on the field apiece.

Taunton opted for a scrum and packed down with Jason Luff in the No. 8 position. He picked up from the base and fed Humphries who in turn offloaded under pressure to Gary Kingdom. Once again the full back chose the perfect arc to join the line and his powerful run beat the covering defence for a score wide out on the left. Yapp successfully converted as Taunton went into the break at 17-7 down but back at full complement.

The second half started with Taunton still at a man advantage but they were unable to make it pay before Brennan returned to the field. It did not stay that way for long when another Henley attack was ended with Sean Fox illegally turning the ball over five metres out from Taunton’s line. The referee deemed the ruck to be have been formed, and Fox was to spend the next ten minutes in the sin bin after being awarded the third yellow card of the afternoon.

The home side could only capitalise during this period through a Wells penalty to extend their lead by another three points and the score now 20-7.

The next period belonged to Henley as they again threw everything they had at the Taunton defence. Their perseverance eventually paid dividends when they added two more tries and a conversion to the scoreboard.

The first came when flanker Ryan Newman sold a big dummy before cutting back into the gap and going in under the posts with Wells converting. The second went to replacement second row Matthew Payne, who charged his way over for an unconverted score in the left-hand corner after a dominant Henley scrum broke up into open play.

If Taunton thought this was a bad dream their nightmare was about to be realised when going into the final six minutes they lost Fox to a red card. He was clearly upended in the tackle, which then sparked an angry reaction from the hard working flanker. With the home support baying for blood the referee felt he had little option but to produce a red card for retaliation.

Taunton were going to have to finish the match a man down but they refused to give in as they pressed for another score of their own. They came close, but time and again a well-organised defence repelled them as they hammered on the door.

In the end they stretched themselves so far that it was Henley who ended the game with another score. Holes appeared in the visiting defence and centre Xavier Andre cantered over for the try converted by Wells with the last kick of the match giving Henley a 39-7 victory.

Henley showed why they are seen as one of the favourites for league honours with this bonus point win. They were a well-organised side and proved hard to break down. It was a tough day at the office for Taunton who had to play for 26 minutes with only fourteen men on the field.

Director of Rugby Lee Waddon, along with coaches Chris Bentley and Tony Yapp will be looking for responses from their players as they seek to steer things back onto the right track. Having competed well for long periods they will look to draw positives from the match and will be working extra hard this week in preparation for the visit of Lydney on Saturday, 10th September.

The club have since released a statement regarding the dismissal of Sean Fox, and have taken the immediate decision to impose a 7-day club ban pending his disciplinary hearing thus making him illegible for selection for this weeks match.

Report By: Patrick Smidmore