Christian Short opened the scoring in the sixth minute and the Wanderers kept the scoreboard ticking over regularly until Mark Easter scored in the 80th minute.
Nevertheless the total could have been more had there been a little more patience and a greater overall structure to the game, the lack of which was perhaps inevitable given that neither team was a settled outfit.
The cohesiveness of the Wanderers forwards dominated the first half and three of the remaining first-half tries came through the pack thanks to Soane Tonga’uiha (2) and Chris Budgen. Jack Hoyles and David Smith scored the others and Hoyles added two conversions.
Matt Lord, whose long pass had put Smith in for his try, began the second-half scoring six minutes in. Smith couldn’t add the extras however, failures he repeated until he refused a tee and drop-goaled the conversions in the 72nd minute.
By that time John Brake and Paul Diggin had scored, and Smith’s first success with the boot followed a try for replacement prop Barney Purbrook. Smith also succeeded in converting 17-year-old Ollie Storey’s 74th-minute try but couldn’t add the extras for Easter’s second.
Teams:
Henley Hawks – O’Brien; Portland, Dale, Burns, Varton; Meenan, Grant; Fuller, Muggridge, Robinson, Hill, Corrigan, Davies, King, Chamberlain.
Replacements – Hoskins, Beech, Rumble, Nixon, Haynes, Lee, Jones.
Wanderers – Kydd (Storey 23mins); Diggin, Clarke (Ward 50mins), Anderson (Peck 50mins), Smith; Hoyles, Brake; Tonga’uiha (Purbrook 60mins), Gray, Budgen (Vickers 60mins), Lord (capt)(Hoy 50mins), Short, Lawes, Lewitt, Easter.
Scorers:
Wanderers – Tries: Short, Hoyles, Budgen, Tonga’uiha (2), Smith, Lord, Brake, Diggin, Purbrook, Storey, Easter; Cons: Hoyles (2), Smith (2).
TIMELINE:
6mins WAND Try Short Con Hoyles 0-7
11mins WAND Try and Con Hoyles 0-14
20mins WAND Try Budgen 0-19
26mins WAND Try Tonga’uiha 0-24
36mins WAND Try Smith 0-29
40+2mins WAND Try Tonga’uiha 0-34
HALF-TIME HAWKS 0 WANDERERS 34
46mins WAND Try Lord 0-39
54mins WAND Try Brake 0-44
59mins WAND Try Diggin 0-49
72mins WAND Try Purbrook Con Smith 0-56
74mins WAND Try Storey Con Hoyles 0-63
80mins WAND Try Easter 0-68
FULL-TIME HAWKS 0 WANDERERS 68
