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 2 South
2014–15 1st (promoted to the National League 1)
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. Promoted as the 2014-15 champions of the National League 2 South, Henley currently plays in the third tier of the English rugby union system, the National League 1 for the 2015–16 season.

History

Henley RFC was founded in August 1930 as Old Henleiensians (old boys of Henley Grammar School). After a break during the war years it 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

2015–16 National League 1 Table
Club Played Won Drawn Lost Points for Points against Points diff Try bonus Losing bonus Points
1 Richmond 22 18 1 3 668 375 293 12 2 88
2 Blackheath 21 17 1 3 560 327 233 6 2 78
3 Hartpury College 22 16 0 6 686 358 328 11 3 78
4 Plymouth Albion 22 15 0 7 516 452 64 8 3 71
5 Esher 22 14 0 8 606 424 182 11 3 70
6 Ampthill 21 13 1 7 501 439 62 10 4 68
7 Darlington Mowden Park 21 14 0 7 563 467 96 9 2 67
8 Rosslyn Park 22 13 0 9 480 417 63 5 2 59
9 Fylde 21 8 1 12 550 540 10 9 8 51
10 Coventry 22 9 1 12 522 483 39 7 4 49
11 Hull Ionians 22 6 0 16 443 603 –160 6 8 38
12 Loughborough Students 21 6 0 15 430 518 –88 5 6 35
13 Wharfedale 22 5 1 16 443 645 –202 8 4 34
14 Blaydon 20 6 0 14 305 510 –205 4 5 33
15 Henley Hawks 21 5 1 15 307 666 –359 3 1 26
16 Cinderford 22 3 1 18 344 700 –356 4 3 21
  • 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. Pink background are relegation places.
    Updated: 13 February 2016
    Source: "National League 1". NCA Rugby. 

    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

      External links

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