Henley 40 Hull Ionians 20: Ionians fall to defeat in spite of strong second-half show

HULL Ionians outscored hosts Henley in the second half of their National One game but they could not overhaul the first-half deficit and went down 40-20 at Dry Leas.
By The Newsroom
Published 7th Oct 2013, 12:11 BST

A penalty from Chris Reakes was all the Yorkshire side had to show for their first-half efforts.

No 8 Rob Stapley had got the home side off the mark on 17 minutes with a pushover try which stand-off James Comben converted, and five minutes later they had doubled their lead following scrum-half Luke Carter’s opening try which Comben again improved.

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Reakes’s penalty narrowed the gap to 14-3 but the Hawks continued their scoring with a 35th-minute try from centre Martin Nutt, followed five minutes later by another from left-winger Alan Awcock, with Comben kicking both conversions to put Henley 28-3 ahead at the break.

Ionians tightened up after the break and, just three minutes in, centre Richard Fletcher raced in for a try converted by Reakes. When prop David Laverick added his name to the scoresheet three minutes later a comeback looked on the cards at 28-15.

But Henley steadied the ship with Carter adding his second try, and the match remained at 33-15 until the final five minutes. The Hawks’ final try went to second-row David Clements, Liam O’Neill converting. No 8 Daniel Hague touched down in the last minute for Ionians.