"A huge squad effort was evident today where we worked just as hard without that ball as we did with ball in hand. Whilst we still conceded a couple of soft scores, which we must eradicate, today was a big character test that we came through and hopefully this can give us some more belief for the challenges ahead.

"Henley posed some big attacking threats and were lethal in attack at times. We feel aggrieved that we were unable to challenge a lot of their breakdowns , and feel that their first and second men into the breakdown rarely supported their body weight. That said, we lived off some scraps in the first half and hassled the opposition with good line speed and a width in our defensive shape, that has been missing so far this season.

"We are delighted that we were able to cause Henley a number of problems in the scrum, and again felt aggrieved that our dominance did not lead to a numerical advantage, considering the position of some of the scrum offences.

"The arrival of Dan Powell has certainly given us a boost, and Harvey Ridgeway was impressive on the wing on his first appearance of the season. Considering we were missing former captains Dave Bargent, Mark Wathes and Ross Morshead, as well as last years top try scorer Ollie Rice, scrum half Matt Ryan, and full back and goal kicker Rich Cadywould, I felt that we brought an energy and enthusiasm to the game that has been lacking in our previous games. Dan and Harvey asked questions of the Henley defence and we also played rugby in the right areas, which was managed well by Lloyd Watkins and George Meadows.

"Having scored a try, awarded by the referee, and then later disallowed by the touch judge, in the final minute which would have won us the game, you can imagine how frustrated we felt at the final whistle. My Frustration is even more so now, having had the benefit of a slow motion replay, which of course our officials do not have access to live in play.

"So there we are ... The one that got away, or the performance that kick starts our season. Perhaps both ... But either way, an excellent performance that showed character and team spirit in abundance against a quality side, much fancied to be challenging at the top of the league come the end of the season."

Man of the Match went to Number 8 Sam Thomas.

Ends