Bottom club Bournemouth came within a score of upsetting table-toppers Henley Hawks, going down 26-20 at Chapel Gate.

Few gave Bournemouth a chance in their opening fixture of 2020 with fifteen league places and fifty-five points between the sides going into the match. But it was a spectacle to savour for the home supporters, who will rue missed chances an indiscipline that cost their team.

Despite the excitement, Performance Director, Richard Sharp, was left disappointed at the final whistle.

“If someone had offered a bonus point before the game I’d have taken it, but all the way through it looked like we should win, and their tries were against the run of play,” said the Bournemouth man.

“But once again, we don’t have the experience to close the game out when we are under pressure.”

Lions began brightly with sustained possession and territory rewarded on 11 minutes with a penalty from the boot of the metrenomic Grant Hancox.

“There aren’t enough good words to say about Grant at the moment,” said Sharp.

“He ran the game.”

Brimming with confidence they followed up immediately with an opportunist try from wing Adam Higgins who picked up a loose pass after his forwards had the Henley pack creaking at the scrum. Hancox added the extras for a lead of 10-0 on the quarter-hour.

But the unforced errors that have cost Bournemouth earlier this season came back to punish them as successive yellow cards forced them to play the second quarter with fourteen.

First, lock Toby Kenneally was dismissed for pulling down a defensive maul, conceding a penalty try in the process. Shortly after his return, wing Ben Meaden saw yellow for holding on in a ruck on his own 5 metre line. Henley scrum-half Ewan Fenley snuck over, with fly-half Ben Bolster converting for a half-time lead of 14-10.

Bournemouth regrouped and began the second half as they had the first, with Meaden crossing for a try and Hancox again converting. But a lapse in concentration allowed the lively Fenley to break from his own half to score his second, with Bolster converting to restore the four-point cushion.

The familiar story - coming close and giving the game away - is what frustrates Sharp.

“We would get into the strike zone and then kick possession away or get turned over,” he said.

Henley showed their quality locking down possession, with wing Reuben Norville securing the bonus point with a try on 52 minutes. A Hancox penalty on 65 minutes gave his team hope at 20-26, but they failed to convert late pressure into a winner.

Sharp is quick to recognise the areas where his team was outplayed.

“What they had over us was really good ball carriers, and in the first half we didn’t come up to meet that challenge,” he said, identifying David Hyde and Elliot Deacon as standout performers for Henley.

“Making tackles behind the gain line really let them build up a head of steam and put us under pressure in midfield.”

For Sharp, it is essential that Bournemouth keep their players fit for the big games.

“Joe rees was magnificent in the first half,” he said.

“When he came off with a busted shoulder we really missed him.

He was also full of praise for wing Ben Meaden.

“He was absolutely fantastic - his positioning and physicality in defence, and he was dangerous with the ball in hand.”

But Lions also need an attacking threat to rival the big teams, Sharp says.

“They also had a very good number 9, and a number 14 who looked threatening every time he got the ball,” Sharp acknowledges.

“It highlighted that we don’t have the pace that some of these teams have.”

“We’ve got a very well drilled side now, very good players from 1-15, but we don’t have anyone who is a huge ball carrier and we don’t have anyone who is lightning quick,” he says.

“If we did, the margin would have been the other way around.”

Lions take away a losing bonus point that could prove decisive come the season’s end, and continue their run of tough fixtures hosting Tonbridge Juddians next weekend. Henley continue their push for promotion.