Henley Hawks
Full nameHenley Rugby Club
FoundedAugust 1930 (1930-08)
LocationHenley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England
Ground(s)Dry Leas (Capacity: 4,000)
League(s)National League 2 East
2022–236th
Team kit
Official website
henleyrugbyclub.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 play in the fourth tier of the English league system; National League 2 East.

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

2023–24 National League 2 East Table
Played Won Drawn Lost Points for Points against Points diff Try bonus Losing bonus Points
1Esher15130258335422912266
2Dorking15121259135523612163
3Bury St Edmunds1512125032972069059
4Barnes1511045223561669457
5Henley Hawks151014448378709152
6Tonbridge Juddians157174494074210444
7Canterbury15708469418519441
8Old Albanian14707419391288339
9Sevenoaks15618370429-595435
10Westcombe Park154110431475-4410634
11Guernsey Raiders14509315415-1007229
12Worthing Raiders153012398558-1608323
13Wimbledon143011343505-1628323
14North Walsham140014163666-503101
  • 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 January 2024

Source: National League 2 East RFU [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 for many seasons from 2005 used Dry Leas for their A-team matches, and also loaned squad players to Henley for development. Wasps moved their A league matches to Maidenhead Rugbys all weather pitch and since their move to Coventry in 2015 have used Henley again on a couple of occasions.

Honours

1st team:

2nd team:

3rd team:

4th team:

Notable players


See also

References

  1. "National League 2 East". England Rugby.
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