Whitehaven’s second-half blitz sees them home against Goole Vikings

Karl Garner - Whitehaven v Goole Vikings Sunday 11th May 2025 - Pic: Mally Walker

WHITEHAVEN 42 GOOLE VIKINGS 24
JORDAN WEIR, Ortus REC, Sunday

WHITEHAVEN scored four tries in the first 20 minutes of the second half to grab their first win in four games – but Goole will be disappointed at the fashion in which they fell away.

In the first half, both sides had spells of dominance as possession swung back and forth.

Whitehaven went in front just four minutes in. Experienced Chris Taylor broke down the right-hand edge after his team went on the short side from a play-the-ball and passed to Ellison Holgate, who was backing up on his left shoulder and grounded the ball between the posts.

Jay Weatherill slotted the first of seven kicks from eight attempts, the second coming soon after via a penalty for a high tackle on Warrington loanee Tom McKinney.

But when Weatherill lost sight of a Jack Potter kick in the sun, Neil Tchamambe strode forward, collected the ball and crossed the whitewash untouched, with Reece Dean converting.

With Whitehaven down to twelve men after the 28th-minute sinbinning of recently-returned forward Daniel Spencer-Tonks for running into a tackle using his forearm, the resulting set led to the visitors taking the lead as Manoa Wacokecoke stretched out an arm to ground the ball on the line, Dean adding the extras.

However Spencer-Tonks’ absence didn’t harm his side any further as they hit back through Australian halfback Cameron Brown. The ball came to him on the final tackle with his grubber forward clattering off the legs of a Goole defender and bouncing perfectly back into his hands. Weatherill’s goal made it 14-12.

That lead was increased by four points through a try on the hooter from Ethan Bickerdike. The centre looked to have been hauled down short, but he reached out and was able to ground the ball.

In the second half, Whitehaven took up where they left off. After the visitors kicked-off into touch on the full, they were starved of possession and territory for nearly 20 minutes.

Spencer-Tonks made up for his earlier discretion by crashing over from short range, and then came a further three tries in eight minutes.

Holgate scored his second after backing up Connor Holliday, Brad Brennan showed his acrobatic side by spinning out of several tackles before grounding, then Rio McQuistan grabbed his first try for the club following a Goole goal-line drop-out, and with a further four conversions by Weatherill, it was 42-12.

The match was over as a contest, with both sides struggling to keep hold of the ball for any length of time, but an errant offload by McKinney gifted field position to Goole, who subsequently scored twice, both times through Thomas Minns and both created by the boot of Dean.

For the first, his kick was batted back inside by Tom Halliday, and the second came from a grubber, with Weatherill caught out of position. Dean improved both.

GAMESTAR: Whitehaven’s two-try star Ellison Holgate started at hooker, then moved into the loose-forward berth.

GAMEBREAKER: The second-half kick-off by Goole sailed out on the full, and the home side scored from the resulting set and went on to boss the next 20 minutes.

MATCHFACTS

WHITEHAVEN
5 Jay Weatherill
2 Mitchell Todd
3 Chris Taylor
4 Ethan Bickerdike
22 Max Anderson-Moore
20 Cameron Brown
6 Kieran Tyrer
18 Tom McKinney
9 Ellison Holgate
17 Karl Garner
11 Connor Holliday
19 Rio McQuistan
13 Jack Kellett
Subs (all used)
14 Luke Collins
21 Ellis Nixon
32 Daniel Spencer-Tonks
16 Brad Brennan

Tries: Holgate (4, 51), Brown (34), Bickerdike (39), Spencer-Tonks (42), Brennan (55), McQuistan (59)
Goals: Weatherill 7/8
Sin bin: Spencer-Tonks (28) – leading with an arm

VIKINGS
3 Josh Guzdek
2 Tom Halliday
4 Thomas Minns
5 Manoa Wacokecoke
28 Neil Tchamambe
32 Jack Potter
7 Reece Dean
17 Jack Coventry
9 Jeylan Hodgson
10 Jack Aldous
11 Brett Ferres
36 Zach Jebson
18 Tyler Craig
Subs (all used)
8 Joe Phillips
12 Bailey Dawson
25 Ryan Wright
33 Dean Roberts