Round one, job done. A potential opening day banana skin avoided against a very tough and resilient Whitehaven side.
I felt at times it was a very stop start game where Whitehaven slowed down our progress and attack at various stages when we seemed to be getting a roll on. Clearly that was a tactic used by them to pause any momentum that we were making.
Defensively I thought we did very well, and their score came about after a dropped ball ended up back in their hands and they walked it in. Lilley and Butler were immense in defence and Holmes dealt with all the high balls well under pressure. Attacking wise, we had some good moments (Gill's second try) where we showed what we are capable of. We created plenty of chances in both halves but just lacked that final killer blow. Whitehaven also pulled off some great defensive play to stop us from scoring. Hopefully the clinical attacking play will come with time as the players continue to gel and combinations are more established. Blackmore also made some good yardage from inside our own half and never took a backwards step.
It was a massive shame to lose Walker so early into the game, but Holmes was outstanding at the back. I felt that he was also very good attacking the line and created some good breaks. A well-deserved MOTM performance. I also felt that Chester Butler was brilliant and seeing Lawrence do a full 80 mins in the pack was a great achievement. What a contrast to the puddings we had in the pack last year.
A game I felt we never really looked like losing and had control of from the early stages. Another big test coming up against the Knights a week on Monday. Perhaps we may even see the debut of Kevin Appo in York?
