Whitehaven ran in 11 tries against an outclassed Newcastle Thunder to keep up the pressure at the top of League One.
The game, played on a glorious spring day at the Ortus Rec, saw man of the match Jack Kellett run in three of Whitehaven’s tries and captain Jordan Burns convert an impressive 11 out of 11, adding in his own try on top of that for a personal points haul of 26.
Whitehaven took less than five minutes to open the scoring when Jake Pearce drove towards the Newcastle try line and a neat Luke Collins pass set up Kellett who was just too powerful for a struggling Thunder and diving through right by the sticks.
Whitehaven knew that their biggest enemy might be their own complacency and immediately on the restart Newcastle’s Jake Dickenson intercepted a wayward pass and sprinted to the Haven try line to touch down for a try converted by Alex Donaghy and a 6-6 scoreline.
It was lesson learned, and for the remainder of the half half Whitehaven went over for another six tries, starting with an impressive effort from Jordan Thomson who looked to have been held up by the Newcastle defence but somehow managed to lift the ball backwards over his head and score, again converted by Burns.
Next up it was Kellett for his second on fourteen minutes, diving through to score despite the best efforts of Thunder’s Harry Lowery and Josh Stoker, and five minutes later it was Mason Lewthwaite’s turn, with the in form second rower going over and, with Burns adding the conversion a 24-6 scoreline.
Newcastle then held Whitehaven back for 15 minutes, with Mitchell Todd coming closest when he nearly managed to win a sprint with Thunder’s James Farrer for a loose ball, and Cam Brown having a try chalked off, but the try-fest continued on the half hour with Henry Hadfield sprinting up the right wing for Haven’s fifth try and his debut try in Haven colours.
Three minutes later Ethan Bickerdike set up captain Burns who charged up field from the half way line to dot down under the sticks giving himself a simple conversion and Whitehaven a 36-6 lead, before Brown did get a try with the Australian diving in just two minutes before the hooter went giving Whitehaven a 42-6 lead at half time much to the delight of the sun baked 773 who watched on.
The second half opened with Brad Brennan, who had come on from the bench, charging in to score, barging through three defenders to twist in and power his way down.
A more organised Newcastle defence did then manage slow the onslaught for the next 12 minutes, but it was desperate defending, and with Ellison Holgate having been held up on the line once, he wasn’t going to be denied twice, and danced through a bemused Thunder defence to dot down for Whitehaven’s ninth try and a 54-6 lead.
The Thunder defence regrouped and held again for the next 15 minutes as Aaron Turnbull, Chris Taylor, Connor Holiday, Thomson and Brennan all battered into their line, and with Newcastle pinned deep in their own half the pressure paid off when Kellet went in for his hat trick on 72 minutes and a 60-0 lead.
There was still time for one last try and it was an easy one, with Brown cantering in to hand over the ball to Collins to give the former Cornwall player, who grew up in Australia, the final try of the game.
Burns’ 11th conversion out of eleven gave Haven the win with the final scoreline of 66-6, lifting Whitehaven into second place in Betfred League One with four wins out of five.
After the match, head coach Anthony Murray said: “You’ve got to be happy with the last two games and the points we’ve racked up, and the efforts defensively, I’m really happy and it’s a good result.
“We need to be patient and pick our opportunities, and we scored some nice tries, there are a few areas we need to fix up on.
“Everyone is champing at the bit to be in the team, we’re in a healthy place with our injuries, and everyone’s training hard because they want to be in the team and that lifts the intensity of the training and we’re executing that on the field.
“We know where we are at, we need to keep improving as a squad, and give a good account of ourselves on the field for the fans who turn up here and when we travel away.”
Whitehaven can now look forward to their Good Friday game against Workington Town, with Town also winning on Sunday, putting in a very impressive second half to secure a 24-34 win away at Rochdale Hornets.
With Town looking for revenge for their Ike Southward Trophy defeat at the start of the season, the derby game on April 18 should be a corker!
