Henley Hawks kept themselves in the National League 2 promotion picture with a 32-16 victory at Halifax, which included a crucial bonus point.

The first 20 minutes saw a tough battle up front with Halifax seeming to get the better of referee Steve Lander's decisions.

A penalty against Henley prop Andy Le Chevalier saw full back Joe Knowles kick Halifax into the lead.

Hawks responded well, and the breakthrough came after Halifax centre Craig Emmerson was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on.

Matt Payne and Barry Reeves pressed up the right touchline interchanging passes before swiftly moving the ball to the left where Chris Simmons crossed for the opening try, which Burton converted.

Soon afterwards, Payne and Stean Williams fed the impressive Luke Burns, who cut in at pace to score between the posts for Burton to convert.

Halifax hit back when Emerson returned to the fray as Robert Afoa-Peterson crossed in the corner.

Knowles failed with the conversion, but quickly added three points from a penalty to make it 14-11 at half-time.

On 47 minutes, a quickly-taken free-kick by No 8 Dave Archer was carried by the destructive Payne to the five-metre line.

Shaw flashed a pass to Luke Burns who scored his second try, which Burton coolly converted.

On 63 minutes, with the Halifax front-row creaking, the experienced Rowan Fuller replaced the defiant Tom French in the front row for Henley.

With Le Chevalier switching to tight-head prop, the change of emphasis resulted in a double turn-over at the scrum.

Battling patiently for the fourth try and bonus point, the ball bobbled free from a ruck on the Halifax ten-metre line.

Hawks' Hurrell was quickest to react and gathered the loose ball to run in on the blind-side from 30 metres.

Halifax replacement and former Oxford Harlequins back Will Greenwood broke clear for their second try.

Burton wrapped up the scoring with two drop goals, the second on the final whistle.