Henley Hawks is a

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

club based in

Henley-on-Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town status in the United Kingdom, town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Thames, in the South Oxfordshire district, in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, Berkshire, Reading, west of M ...

and is one of the leading rugby clubs in the

Thames Valley The Thames Valley is an area in South East England that extends along the River Thames west of London towards Oxford. The area is a major tourist destination and economic hub on the M4 corridor, with a high concentration of technology companies ...

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

National League 2 East National League 2 East is a 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 the East of England. The remainder of England is covered by t ...

History

Henley RFC was founded in August 1930 as Old Henleiensians (old boys of

Henley Grammar School Henley may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Henley, Dorset, a location * Henley, Gloucestershire, a location *Henley-on-Thames, a town in South Oxfordshire, England **Henley (UK Parliament constituency) ** Henley Rural District, a former rural ...

). 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 (sport), 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 Britis ...

, 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 Eng ...

. 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 was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

in the fourth round before bowing out to

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

Kingsholm Kingsholm is an area of Gloucester, in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is home to Kingsholm Stadium, which hosts Gloucester Rugby and other international matches. It is also home to a Church of England school, Kingsholm Primary Sch ...

. 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 National One, up until 2023 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 Lea ...

. 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 and borough in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 113,094 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Br ...

55–27 to secure a place in

for the 2013–14 season. The Hawks squad is now coached by Rob Cain.

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, 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 played during the 1970–71 season, with the inaugural winners being Oxford. It is the most impor ...

winners (8): 1979, 1983, 1985, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 * South West 2 champions: 1991–92 * South West 1 champions: 1993–94 *

National League 1 National One, up until 2023 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 Lea ...

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, N ...

champions (2):

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2014–15 2nd team: *

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

Berks/Bucks & Oxon Premier A Berks, Bucks and Oxon Premier A was an English rugby union league featuring teams from Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. Berks/Bucks & Oxon Premier A Honours References See also * English Rugby Union Leagues *English rugby union ...

champions: 2010–11 *

Berks/Bucks & Oxon 2 Counties 4 Berks/Bucks & Oxon (formerly Berks, Bucks and Oxon Division 2) is an English rugby union league featuring teams from Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire. The division was created in 2004–05 as part of a complete overhaul of ...

champions: 2016–17 4th team: *

Berks/Bucks & Oxon 3 Berks, Bucks and Oxon Division 3 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, third and fourth t ...

champions: 2014–15

Notable players

* –

Kevin Tkachuk Kevin Tkachuk (born September 11, 1976) is a former prop for the Canada national rugby union team and the Glasgow Warriors in Scotland. After completing his studies at Kellogg College, Oxford University,

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

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

– Rochelle "Rocky" Clark - England, England Sevens, England Students, Barbarians *

– Alec Hepburn - England, Scotland, London Welsh, Exeter Chiefs, Scarlets *

– Josh McNally - England, London Welsh, London Irish, Bath, Cardiff *

– Curtis Langdon - England, London Irish, Sale Sharks, Worcester Warriors, Montpellier, Northampton Saints *

– Jack Willis - England, Wasps, Toulouse

References

External links

* {{National League 2 South Rugby union teams in England Rugby clubs established in 1930 Rugby union clubs in Oxfordshire