Whitehaven followed up an impressive win at Sheffield last week with another outstanding effort to beat Widnes Vikings 36-12 at the LEL Arena.
It lifted Jonty Gorley’s men to ninth in the Championship table, their sixth win of the season and emphasised how they can match all but the elite of the competition.
Gor;ley said: “Following up that great win last week was so important and the fact that we did it through sticking to basics, doing what we do well and playing for each other was key.”
The home side had fallen behind, though, after only five minutes after they had knocked-on near their own line. From the scrum Max Roberts cut through to score and Tom Gilmore added the conversion.
Haven gradually started to make inroads and on 28 minutes Widnes were reduced to 12 men when Mick Fozard was sent to the sin bin by referee Liam Rush for a professional foul.
Whitehaven immediately drew level. Josh Rourke swept into Ryan King’s pass and although he went down managed to keep the ball off the ground and twisted and turned his way over the line. He also added the conversion.
It was proving a difficult time for Widnes to manage with a man in the bin and on 37 minutes James Newton burrowed over for the second Haven try. Fozard returned as Rourke added the conversion.
But there was still more agony for Widnes even back to full strength. Almost on the hooter the Vikings lost the ball on first tackle and from the scrum Chris Taylor sliced through for the third Haven try. Rourke’s conversion made it 18-6 at the break.
Seven minutes into the second-half Rourke extended the lead with a penalty and on the hour they scored a fourth try. Lucas Castle burst through from 30 metres and had Lasarusa Tabu with him to take the pass and touchdown.
To add to Widnes’ woes Kieran Dixon was sin-binned as the result of a fracas after that try which Rourke converted.
Whitehaven were now running away with the game and on 64 minutes when Gilmore tackle Newton the ball went loose and was snaffled by King who had a simple task in scoring. Rourke converted.
There was some consolation for Widnes when they scored again on 72 minutes when Sam Wilde broke away wide and scored in the corner. Gilmore landed a fine conversion.
But four minutes from the end Whitehaven put the icing on a fine display when King did well to keep the ball alive on last tackle and he sent Taylor in for the unconverted try.
