READING Abbey Ladies endured a tough welcome to life in the Championship as they slipped to a 12-5 defeat to Henley Hawks, writes Fiona Tomas.

Jack Reynolds’ side – who are this season plying their trade in the country’s second tier of women’s rugby for the first time – were outclassed by an established Henley outfit for large periods of the game.

But Abbey’s resolute defence – which was called upon relentlessly throughout by Henley’s strong forward pack – earned them a losing bonus-point on their opening day of the season.

It was the visitors who enjoyed the brighter start, applying pressure deep into Abbey’s half and forcing the Nuns onto the back foot.

But as the Hawks failed to break the gain line, frustrations began to show and it was Abbey who seized their opportunity.

Alice Denton stole the ball from a tackle deep inside Abbey territory to sprint a full 80m down the length of the pitch to thump the ball down in the corner.

It was a blistering run which ephemerally swung the momentum of the match, but did little to quell Henley’s self-confidence.

The second half saw the visitors turn up the pressure and continue to knock on Abbey’s door. And on the hour mark, it finally opened.

A series of handling errors led to Henley’s Yas Matthews breaking through the defence to score, before Lizzie Hearn converted.

Lia Gingell came off the bench to make a positive impact and the Nuns relaxed into a better rhythm which nearly saw them score after sustained pressure in Henley’s half.

But after winning a turnover, Henley worked their way back into Abbey territory, before working the ball left which allowed to storm in for her side’s second try.

Despite their opening-day defeat, Reynolds was encouraged by his players’ determined performance on the pitch.

He said: “You wouldn’t think looking at the score line we defended for about 60 of the 80 minutes.

“Henley had to work hard for both their scores and we even had opportunities to increase ours that on another day, we may have taken.

“As a group, we know where we need to improve but to debut against an established championship side and come away with a losing bonus point is something I can only see as a success.

“We will only get better.”

Reading Abbey Ladies travel to Hove as they seek a first win of the season on Saturday.