Whitehaven were blown away by Sheffield Eagles in their latest Championship clash which ceased to be a contest before half-time.
The Eagles, beaten in their previous two games, were in no mood to make it three on the spin and it was Whitehaven who felt the full force of that response.
It finished 78-24 but in truth it was all over at half-time when there were visions of the Cumbrians being completely overwhelmed as the Eagles had established a 42-6 lead.
Sheffield scored after only three minutes through Matty Dawson-Jones and Matty Marsh scored the first of his four tries on eight minutes.
There was a brief response by Haven with a try from Jake Maizen on 17 minutes, with Jake Carter converting, but Haven virtually spent the rest of the half trying to fend off wave after wave of Sheffield attacks.
Dawson-Jones had completed his hat-trick inside half-an-hour; Marsh had scored his second and there were also tries from Kris Welham and Alex Foster with Cory Aston converting them all.
Ben Jones-Bishop announced there would be no respite for Haven when he scored three minutes into the second half and Marsh completed his hat-trick three minutes later.
A mistake by Sheffield on a rare Haven visit to the home line allowed Owen McCarron to score Haven’s second on 52 minutes but it was business as usual after that.
Jesse Sene-Lefao went in after 58 minutes; Foster scored his second on the hour; Marsh added his fourth four minutes later and Titus Swaze scored the 13th home try on 69 minutes. Aston kept his 100% record with his conversions.
It was even suggested Sheffield had declared when Whitehaven scored two tries late on through Will Evans and Lachlan Hanneghan, both converted by Carter.
Whitehaven are very much in a relegation dog-fight, only ahead of Barrow by the slightest of margins regarding points differential.
Next up it’s Widnes Vikings at home which has the look of a must-win game – as will most of the remaining fixtures.
