Henley Hawks started their National League 1 campaign in the worst possible way as they crashed 24-9 to visitors London Welsh.

Sadly, there was precious little to excite the 1,000-plus crowd at Dry Leas, with both sides rusty after the summer break.

Both sides found it difficult to get the ball moving and the two tries scored by the visitors were not as a result of any flowing rugby.

They found it difficult to retain possession. In the first half, the Hawks were turning the ball over but they failed to press home their advantage, having to rely on the boot of Barry Reeves, making his debut at No 10, for their points.

His penalty gave Henley the lead after three minutes but it didn't last long with scrum-half Alex Birkby putting Welsh ahead.

Hawks were struggling in the scrum, giving No 8 Ali Metacalfe, Dan Smaje and Ben Ayres little opportunity to set ball up for the backs.

Richard Mahoney kicked two penalties for Welsh before Reeves replied for Hawks as they trailed 11-6.

Hawks suffered a setback when Isi Tuivai was sin-binned for holding onto the ball too long.

As he was about to return to the fray, Hawks suffered another blow when Ricardo Van Zyl limped from the fray with a leg injury. Reeves moved to centre with Phil Osman coming on.

Mahoney's penalty saw Hawks 14-6 down at the interval.

It could have been worse after the break but Welsh, with England international centre Steve Ravenscroft pulling the strings, messed up two excellent chances to score tries.

But Hawks could not keep Welsh out for long, with James Strong scoring under the posts.

Hawks had the chance to get a try five minutes from time but Pete Davies's kick ahead was scrambled away.