Hawks swoop to pick off Clifton
Henley 30
Clifton 20
HENLEY Hawks claimed the spoils with a hardfought bonus-point win against spirited Clifton. The game started dramatically with two tries in the opening two minutes. First, with the Hawks asleep, Clifton took a quick lineout and Chris Levesley outpaced the Hawks defence to score in the corner.
But the Hawks responded as Clifton failed to gather the restart and Brad Cook pounced on the ball and ran 25 metres to touch down. The rest of the first half was dominated by ex- Henley favourite Danny Wells who pulled all the strings for the visitors. He traded penalties with
George Jackson before making a clean break and setting up Charles Hubert to score Clifton’s second try.
The Hawks were more dynamic in the second half as Joe Morris finished off a driving maul. Although the conversion was missed, the Hawks were now on the front foot as Clifton appeared to tire and they eventually took the lead with a try from Sam Portland wide out.
Clifton responded and enjoyed a period of good possession as they went looking for a winning score. But Henley scored their bonus-point try when Jack Robinson squeezed in the corner to give the Hawks victory.
