National 2 South

Henley Hawks climbed to fourth in the table with a hard-fought 13-7 victory at Shelford.

Ali James’s try and fellow centre Danny Wells’ conversion sealed the spoils in wet and windy conditions.

Shelford’s forwards had the edge in the rucks, but Henley controlled the line-out, thanks to captain Andy Dalgleish’s superb throwing.

Henley’s backs struggled to make headway, but they took a 6-0 lead following Wells’s penalties on nine and 23 minutes.

Shelford had flanker Matt Otter sin-binned, while Henley wing Jack Shaylor suffered the same fate just before half-time.

The hosts took the lead with a penalty try, converted by fly half Andy Daly, after Hawks illegally pulled down a close-range scrum.

Shelford lock Redmond Newberry and Henley replacement prop Rowan Fuller were both yellow-carded on 67 minutes.

Having been held up over the line, Hawks’ breakthrough came on 71 minutes when replacement scrum half James Gaunt moved the ball awide and James had time and space to stroll in.

Wells converted and Hawks were able to close out the win.