T-Birds Home to Henley Hawks

The T-Birds are still not back to their scintillating best, but were still good enough to leave something like 50 points on the park and win by 41-7. Had passes gone to hand, this could have been a complete drubbing.
Henley were well drilled and enthusiastic in all areas of the game, but the Ts were just better in every department, and only the exceptional Henley 7 (Fields) and 15 ( Thomas) kept them in the game.
It only took 8 minutes for Ts to get on the score sheet when Emerson got on the end of a backs move to drag 2 Hawks over the line but Ts had already spurned 2 gold plated chances.
3 minutes later, Harvey showed her strength and balance running 2/3 of the pitch to be dragged down just short and Rachel French finished off with an athletic dive over the ruck.
It looked like Ts would run riot, but a yellow card after a scuffle on the floor left Ts down to 14, but still they created 3 more clear cut chances that they failed to finish.
90% of the half was played in Henley territory, their only opportunities to relieve the pressure coming from Penalties.
Finally 2 penalties got Henley into Ts 22 for the first time in the game and a charged down kick and a 5 meter scrum let Henley convert their only chance of the half into points for 10-7.
Ts came out buzzing for the second half wanting to put some things right.
Reverting to the power game, they mauled for 25 meters then a couple of quick rucks on the Henley line saw Captain Mercedes Foy smash over.
Receiving the kick off, Ts were straight back down to the Henley line and despite losing the ball in contact, constant pressure allowed Sophie Tyler to pounce on a loose ball and scamper under the posts.
Again the rout looked on the cards and again Ts failed to find their best form. Small errors cost 3 trys in a 5 minute spell pressing the Hawks line.
Now on the wrong end of the Referee’s whistle Ts had a second Yellow which completely disrupted their flow and allowed Henley some possession, but unwilling to kick to the Ts dominant lineout, Henley ran in the wrong areas of the park and allowed Ts to maintain the pressure.
With only 10 minutes left Ts upped their game and went in search of the bonus point. It came quickly as another driving maul allowed French to claim her second try.
With Henley visibly flagging Ts cut loose, Sophie Tyler scoring her second and India Harvey deservedly getting on the score sheet.
Final Score was 41-7 to leave the T-Birds second in the table and going to play top team Richmond next Sunday.

Team: Emerson (T), Harris, Tyler (2T) Harvey (T), Franklin, Rettie, Cook (3C), Nichols, Foy (T), Mountjoy, French (2T), Jordan. F , Dyche, Phelps , Hepper . Rep: , Wheeler, Ortega-Corales, Larson, Prosser