Henley 25-45 Pertemps Bees

4/9/2004 3PM

Dry Leas

Tries: Tom Richardson, Aaron Takarangi (x2),  Simon Martin, Nick Baxter

Others: Mark Woodrow (4 cons, 3 pens, 1 drop goal)

Pertemps Bees began the new season as they did last, picking up maximum bonus points from a five try romp at sunny Dry Leas.

It was certainly not a perfect performance as the Bees squandered three more golden try-scoring opportunities by dropping the ball over the line but the general performance pleased director of rugby Phil Maynard.

"It was an encouraging performance but it was by no means perfect," Maynard said. "We dropped the ball over the line three times which was a bit of a concern. Fortunately, on this occasion, it didn't prove costly.

"But Henley is never an easy place to go and get a result so to come away with maximum points and with a 20 points contribution from Mark Woodrow who came into the game because Tim Walsh wasn't available shows that we do have strength in depth."

The Bees also travelled to Oxfordshire without injured full-back Dave Knight and skipper Ed Orgee and they fell behind after Woodrow, who missed only one kick all afternoon, had landed an early penalty.

Henley responded with a try from winger Pete Davies and a conversion from Barry Reeves but Woodrow found the target again before the Bees regained the lead with a stunning long-range try from Aaron Takarangi which Woodrow goaled.

A drop goal from Woodrow extended the Bees' lead before Reeves trimmed the lead to just three points with penalties either side of the break. But Takarangi with his second and fellow winger Nick Baxter settled the issue with tries in quick succession. Takarangi missed out on a hat-trick when he fumbled the ball over the line.

Simon Martin, on his league debut, and Tom Richardson added further tries for the Bees and Woodrow's only miss came when he failed to add a conversion with his final kick of the afternoon.

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