Henley Hawks 30, Halifax 9

A much-improved second half saw Henley Hawks collect their first bonus point victory of the National 2 season.

Hawks trailed 9-6 at the break after a disjointed display, but came out with all guns blazing.

Henley notched two tries in eight minutes and with Barry Reeves becoming increasingly influential, then ran in two more in stoppage time.

Having started the season in very mediocre form, Hawks supporters may have feared the worse at half-time, but no doubt their mood was far better at the end.

Hawks welcomed wing Felise Ah-Ling and lock Rob Hurrell back from injury and began with real vigour.

Halifax collapsed the first scrum and Hawks centre Danny Wells slotted the penalty.

Hawks should have capitalised on their early pressure, but a lack of cutting edge showed their low confidence.

Skipper Stean Williams drove close to the line and Henley forced a series of scrums.

A less lenient referee than Darren Gamage may have awarded a penalty try as Halifax's scrum kept collapsing.

Henley finally went wide, but fly half Reeves gave full back Nathan Lambden a forward pass and the chance was lost.

Halifax began to gain some parity up front, while full back Joe Knowles produced a mazy run out of defence.

Knowles is renowned as a kicker, however, and made no mistake with a penalty on 22 minutes.

Both sides lacked spark, but Halifax gained an advantage when Henley flanker Steve Green was sin-binned on 31 minutes.

Halifax kept pressing for the try, but eventually settled for another Knowles penalty.

Ah-Ling looked to be obstructed as he chased his own chip kick before Wells equalised with a penalty.

Knowles landed a monster kick late on, but that was the end of Halifax's scoring.

Henley roared back after the break and Ah-Ling was on hand to finish a sweeping move on 42 minutes.

This all stemmed from Reeves's delayed pass to Luke Burns, while try No 2 was entirely a forwards effort.

No 8 Dave Archer finished off a powerful catch-and-drive move, which Wells converted.

There was still a lot of sloppy play in the second half, but Henley's defence looked a lot tighter.

The introduction of Mark Meenan at fly half and Reeves' move to centre gave Hawks fresh impetus in the final 15 minutes.

Reeves scored a deserved try on the left after a dynamic team move and Wells converted.

Eighty minutes had already elapsed by this point, but Burns was able to score on the right, following Archer's surge up field, to cap a fine comeback.

Henley: N Lambden, Ah-Ling, Wells, L Burns, Simmons (Meenan 66), Reeves, Gaunt, Le Chevalier, Alexopolous (Muggridge 66), Robinson (Fuller 66), Winterbottom, Hurrell, Green (Chamberlain 57), Williams (capt), Archer.

Referee: D Gamage (East Midlands).

Henley man-of-the-match: Reeves.