Playing Record
Henley's fortunes stood still until Clive Woodward, 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.
Also in 1999, Henley enjoyed a record run in the Tetley's Bitter Cup, defeating Premier 1 club Bedford in the fourth Round before bowing out to Gloucester at Kingsholm, in a game that saw roughly 14 Henley supporters in attendance.
They finished ninth in National One in 1999-2000, 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.
The Hawks squad is now coached by ex-Hawks players Steve Barnes and Pete Davies.
Read more about this topic: Henley Hawks
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