NATIONAL 2 SOUTH

LEADERS Henley Hawks staged a remarkable fightback from 26-0 down to win 30-29 at Canterbury.

Henley trailed by that margin after 24 minutes, but battled their way back to take victory in the final minutes with a try from a 12-man driving maul.

Hawks’ squad featured nine changes from the previous week and soon struggled up the slope into a strong breeze.

Canterbury centre Tom Best made amends for an early penalty miss by converting his own try.

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It got worse for Hawks when home wing Mason Rossvall ran in from half-way to make the score 12-0 after 12 minutes.

Canterbury looked to have a decisive lead when they drove flanker Ryan Ward over twice in quick succession, Best converting both.

Hawks hit back with a try from flanker Matt Payne from their first sustained attack.

Ward was sin-binned, with Henley fly half Ed Yarnton slotting the resulting penalty.

The visitors built on this in the second half, with wing Xavier Andre going over for Yarnton to convert.

Canterbury had scrum half Dan Smart sin-binned for foul play and they conceded again when Hawks skipper Dave Clement scored via a 20-metre driving maul.

Best slotted a penalty to make it 29-20 on 52 minutes, but all the pressure was coming from Henley.

Andre bagged his second try with 20 minutes to go and it seemed inevitable that Hawks would force victory.

But Canterbury upped their game in defence, while Yarnton went off with a shoulder injury.

Henley stayed patient and forced a series of attacking line-outs.

One eventually paid dividends when the insertion of four backs into the maul allowed replacement Tom Hall to score the winning try.

Chinnor climbed to fifth in the table after a 38-20 victory at Clifton.

The hosts took the lead on six minutes when fly half James Mackay squeezed over and converted his own try.

Chinnor fly half Ed Keohane, who scored 18 points, bagged their opening try on 14 minutes.

He then converted Jamie Townsend’s try eight minutes later.

Scrum half Frank Jones ran in try No 3, Keohane again converting, but two penalties from Mackay made it 19-13 at half-time.

Chinnor effectively sealed victory within ten minutes.

Wing Reuben Haile and prop Joe Pickett scored tries, with, Keohane converting one.

Clifton prop Rupert Freestone was driven over on 60 minutes.

But Keohane had the final say with his second try, which he converted for good measure.

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