Henley Hawks is a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

club based in Henley-on-Thames and is one of the leading rugby clubs in the

Thames Valley The Thames Valley is an informally-defined sub-region of South East England, centred on the River Thames west of London, with Oxford as a major centre. Its boundaries vary with context. The area is a major tourist destination and economic hub, ...

. The first team play in the fourth tier of the English league system;

National League 2 East National League 2 East is a new rugby union league at level four in the English rugby union system and provides semi-professional competition for teams in London, South East England and East of England. The remainder of England is covered b ...

History

Henley RFC was founded in August 1930 as Old Henleiensians (old boys of Henley Grammar School). After a break during the war years the club was re-founded in 1954 and changed its name to Henley RFC in 1963. It has been based at Dry Leas since then.

Recent playing record

Henley's fortunes stood still until

Clive Woodward Sir Clive Ronald Woodward (born 6 January 1956) is an English former rugby union player and coach. He was coach of the team from 1997 to 2004, managing them to victory in the 2003 Rugby World Cup. He also coached the 2005 British & Irish Lion ...

, England's future World Cup winning manager, became the 1st XV coach in 1990. His introduction of the "flat ball" philosophy was a pioneering event for British rugby and brought promotion in 1992. Henley gained a further promotion in 1994 to the National Leagues and, after Woodward departed to coach London Irish, Henley continued to play fluid rugby and two further promotions ensued (in the 1997–98 and 1998–99 seasons), landing the club in what is now

National Division One The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men’s English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when ...

. Also in 1999, Henley enjoyed a record run in the Tetley's Bitter Cup, defeating the Premier 1 club

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

in the fourth round before bowing out to

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

at Kingsholm. Henley finished ninth in National One in 1999–00, seventh in 2000–01 but finished 13th in 2001–02 and were relegated to National Division Two. They regained their place in National One by finishing second in 2002–03 but two years later were relegated back into National Two. After flirting with promotion from National Division Two in season 2006–7, finishing third by one point to Launceston, the following season was little short of disastrous resulting in relegation to National Division 3 (South). Last season, 2009–10 they struggled during the middle part of the season to face further relegation worries but a good finish to the year resulted in a mid-table finish. This season has seen a large improvement on the previous season's performances especially during the middle of the year and the squad are hopeful of a top 6 finish. On 4 May 2013, Henley Hawks beat

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Ho ...

55–27 to secure a place in

for the 2013–14 season. The Hawks squad is now coached by ex-Hawks players Steve Barnes and Pete Davies.

Current standings

Ground

The ground is leased from the Town Council with the unexpired portion being nearly fifty years. When the leagues were started in 1987 Henley were placed in South West II. Henley have developed a working relationship with

London Wasps Wasps Rugby Football Club is a professional rugby union team. They last played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby until being suspended on 12 October 2022. On 17 October 2022 the club entered administration, resulting in r ...

, who for many seasons from 2005 used Dry Leas for their A-team matches, and also loaned squad players to Henley for development. Wasps moved their A league matches to Maidenhead Rugbys all weather pitch and since their move to Coventry in 2015 have used Henley again on a couple of occasions.

Honours

1st team: *

Oxfordshire RFU County Cup The Oxfordshire RFU County Cup is an annual rugby union knock-out club competition organised by the Oxfordshire Rugby Football Union. It was first introduced during the 1970–71 season, with the inaugural winners being Oxford. It is the mos ...

winners (8): 1979, 1983, 1985, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 * South West 2 champions: 1991–92 *

South West 1 Regional 1 South West (formerly South West Premier and National League 3 South West) is a level five league in the English rugby union system. It is one of six leagues at this level. When this division began in 1987 it was known as South West D ...

champions: 1993–94 *

National League 1 National One (last season known as National League 1 and previously known before September 2009 as National Division Two), is the third of three national leagues in the domestic rugby union competition of England. It was known as Courage Leagu ...

champions: 1998–99 *

National League 2 South National League 2 South (known before September 2009 as National Division Three South) was a level four league in the English rugby union system until the end of season 2021–22. It was one of two leagues at this level, with its counterpart, ...

champions (2):

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 2014–15 2nd team: *

winners (3): 2001, 2003, 2005 3rd team: * Berks/Bucks & Oxon 1 South champions: 2009–10 * Berks/Bucks & Oxon Premier A champions: 2010–11 *

Berks/Bucks & Oxon 2 Berks, Bucks and Oxon Division 2 is an English rugby union league featuring teams from Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. As with all of the divisions in this area at this level, the entire league is made up of second and third teams of ...

champions: 2016–17 4th team: * Berks/Bucks & Oxon 3 champions: 2014–15

Notable players

* – Kevin Tkachuk - Canada, Barbarians * – Ayoola Erinle - England, England Sevens, England Students, Barbarians

References

External links

Official Website
{{Rugby union in England English rugby union teams Rugby clubs established in 1930 Rugby union in Oxfordshire