National 2 South

HENLEY Hawks bounced back from two straight defeats to beat Dings Crusaders 35-8 at Dry Leas.

Dings had started well, but Henley took the lead when wing Christoph Bart set up centre Danny Wells to sweep in.

Two penalties from fly half James Comben and one from Dings’ full back Harvey Skelton made it 11-3 at the break, while the visitors had Sheldon Stevens sin-binned.

Hawks lost flanker Ryan Crossland to a broken nose at half-time, but his replacement Jamie Sutton scored within two minutes of coming on for his debut.

Comben converted, then Bart’s pace allowed him to run in from 45 metres.

Henley had replacement prop Ant Brennan yellow-carded and wasted three more chances before Skelton broke from deep to make it 23-8.

Any chance of a Dings comeback was quashed when some strong scrummaging saw Henley awarded a penalty try as the visiting front row stood up illegally to stop the set-piece, Comben converting.

Comben went close to a fifth try before his grubber kick allowed Bart to set up hooker Alec Hepburn for the final score.