AN ABBEY squad shorn of a number of regular players and containing various new faces were thrashed 58-22 by Henley Bulls in a pre-season fixture at a sunny Rosehill.

The visitors scored 10 tries in total – seven of them in the opening 40 minutes – in a game which was divided into four 20-minute quarters with pauses in between. Abbey improved vastly in the latter stages of the match, actually winning the last quarter by three tries to one.

Henley did as much as they pleased in the opening 40 minutes, racking up a 41-0 lead at half time, as the hosts did not help themselves by missing several first time tackles and by often kicking away the scraps of possession they received. The ball was also lost at the breakdown too frequently.

The second half began badly for Abbey with another unconverted try being scored direct from the kick-off, and although Chris Shaw began to pinch some ball at the line-out a further try, this time converted, took the score to 53-0.

However, the game became far less one-sided after this, and Abbey enjoyed a purple patch leading up to their first try.

Prompted by the darting breaks of scrum half Louis Pawlett, the home side began to batter away at the Bulls’ line, with hooker Paul Emery, No.8 Will Woodward, outside half Theo Evered and replacement Jerry Sutherland all being stopped just short.

After Bulls had a player sin-binned, a further break from Pawlett allowed replacement Carlos Esteban to dive over the line for a well-merited Abbey try.

The final quarter began with Abbey trailing 53-5, but the crowd was soon treated to a typical bit of Gavin Dampies magic.

Picking up a loose ball inside his own 22, he dashed away and outpaced the Bulls’ defence to score a great individual try.

Centre Ben Davis saw his conversion attempt bounce wide off a post, but Abbey then pressed for further scores. Emery made a good break, and after Evered and Dampies exchanged passes, the outside half crossed for Abbey’s third try, the conversion again being missed.

Finally, after Abbey got on top at a five metre scrum, Emery, who had by now moved to the back row, powered over for his side’s last try, Davies adding the conversion.

However, just before the end of the match, Henley Bulls went on the attack again and scored one more unconverted try, putting the icing on the cake in a fine win.