NATIONAL 1

HENLEY Hawks slipped to a disappointing 12-5 defeat at home to Cinderford.

The loss saw Henley drop to 11th place and they are now just four points above the drop zone, with three sides to go down.

Cinderford took advantage of a yellow card for Hawks flanker Luke Allen by driving Tom Buzzard over on 18 minutes, with Mark Davies converting.

The visitors survived the sin-binning of prop Chris Bundy to score a second try as lock Lance Randall crashed over.

Storm conditions forced play to be suspended for eight minutes, but Henley enjoyed their best spell on the resumption.

Fly half James Comben’s kicks kept Cinderford pegged back and his side struck when No 8 Robbie Stapley was driven over.

Randall was yellow-carded for bringing down a maul, but Cinderford held on.