Henley Hawks saw their National 2 promotion hopes dashed with a 28-13 defeat at Esher and Launceston's bonus point victory at home to Cambridge.

Hawks will now just have to play for pride when they host Launceston this Saturday, but the picture looked very different at half-time.

An excellent compact display, plus a fine try from winger Tom Burns, saw Henley deservedly lead 13-3 at the break in what was a must-win game.

Esher, however, were told to change shirts from black to red at the interval to avoid a colour clash, and this seemed to kick-start their comeback.

Full back Neil Hallett put Esher ahead with a second-minute penalty and they controlled the opening exchan- ges.

Two excellent moves almost led to tries on the left wing with the final pass just eluding centre Bevon Armitage and prop Duncan Cormack.

Henley looked edgy, but their defence was rock solid and they equalised with their first foray into Esher territory.

Great work from the forwards created room for fly half Mitch Burton to drop a goal via the left upright after 11 minutes.

Henley's compact game was paying dividends, and they took the lead with a try wide out on the right on 21 minutes.

Burns latched on to Barry Reeves's floated pass to touch down and Burton converted, but the hard work had been done up front.

Centre Luke Burns, Tom's brother, had an impressive game and twice came close to breaking through the Esher defence.

An early tackle at the lineout from lock Rob Hurrell allowed Hallett a second shot at goal, but his penalty blew wide.

Burton was spot-on with an injury-time drop goal, which ended a very satisfactory half for Henley.

Hawks almost gifted Esher a try from a sloppy lineout, and then received a further let-off when home lock Paul Barker was sin-binned on 44 minutes.

This looked like being the spur Henley needed and more pressure gave Burton a penalty shot, which he sent wide.

Esher were finally stung into action and after some patient forward play, prop Duncan Cormack was driven over for a try, which Hallett converted.

The pendulum well and truly swung towards the hosts once Hallett equalised with a 59th-minute penalty.

Energetic centre Bevon Armitage was proving an increasing threat, but it was Hallett who put his side ahead, finishing a dynamic move on the left.

It was all over as a contest on 68 minutes when Armitage touched down a clever chip kick from scrum half Graham Barr, and Hallett converted.

Another Hallett penalty wrapped up the scoring after 75 minutes, while a strong run from replacement Chaska Loubser was the closest Henley came to a second try.

Henley: Farndon, T Burns (Loubser 66), L Burns, Reeves, Simmons, Burton, Gaunt, Le Chevalier, Wordley (capt) (Muggridge 69), French (Fuller 72), Winterbottom, Hurrell, M Payne (Tenconi 61), Williams, Archer.

Henley man-of-the-match: L Burns.