Whitehaven 4-46 St Helens: Highlights, player ratings and talking points

Current cup holders St Helens eventually showed their class as they swept aside Championship club Whitehaven at the LEL Arena.

Saints bounced back from their poor performance against Toulouse in France last weekend with their quest for a treble well underway.

Highlights:

Whitehaven make a lively start against the champions
Up against the reigning champions, you could forgive the Cumbrian side for giving St Helens too much respect during the opening stages but it was Whitehaven who had the better start to the game. Whitehaven had multiple sets on the Saints try line and although they was unable to make the pressure count, it was a warning to St Helens that this was going to be a difficult afternoon’s work.

Kyle Amor scoring on his return
Local lad Kyle Amor got a try on his return to Whitehaven, playing his first game against the club where he started his career. Back playing at the LEL Arena, prop Amor would have dreamt of going over in front of his old fans as the Cumbrian scored from close range under the sticks after a no look pass from hooker Joey Lussick. It was the forwards first try of the season and also his first try in the Challenge cup since he scored in the final against Castleford last season.

Whitehaven’s enterprising rugby gets them a try
The Championship club looked lively for the majority of the game, making a number of line breaks and offloads as they tried to break St Helens’ resistance and breach the country’s best defence and their ambition with the ball in hand was finally rewarded in the second half as the powerful back rower Ryan King bounced away from a tackle before offloading to his stand-off Karl Dixon to score a well deserved try for Whitehaven.

Talking Points:

1. Cooper taken off on stretcher after scary neck injury
Former Saints academy captain Liam Cooper had to be taken off the field on a stretcher after suffering a neck injury only 8 minutes into the contest. The back rower came away from a tackle holding his neck and was attended to by the medical staff from both clubs before leaving the field with a neck brace on. Cooper is said to be up and about in the dressing room with the positive news being a stiff neck injury rather than something more serious.

2. Fatigue catches up to the Championship club
Whitehaven put in a solid display during the opening stages of this Round Six Challenge cup tie, going toe to toe with St Helens and even forcing the Champions into some uncharacteristic errors. Two early injuries left Whitehaven with a squad of only 15 and during the second half their energy was sapped and St Helens eventually ran away with the game as fatigue kicked in. Whitehaven should take confidence from their performance and will be looking to take the form which they started this game with into the rest of their campaign.

3. Is the treble possible for Saints?
St Helens put last weeks shock defeat in France behind them as they look to win the Challenge cup for the second season running. After losing key players in the off-season, it looked as if Saints would be weaker this season but they have continued their domination aside from last week’s blip. Now they are up and running in the Challenge cup this season and currently top of Super League, it will take a strong contender to knock the champions off their perch.

Player Ratings:

Whitehaven
1. Geronimo Doyle – 5
2. Dave Eccleston – 5
4. Will Evans – 5
15. Connor Holliday – 5
5. Andrew Bulman – 6
6. Karl Dixon – 7
7. Nikau Williams -6
8. Liam McAvoy – 5
23. Alex Bishop – 7
18. Guy Graham – 6
11. Ryan King – 7
12. Liam Cooper – N/A
16. Tom Wilkinson – N/A
Interchange
9. Callum Phillips – 7
10. Tom Walker – 6
13. Dion Aiye – 7
20. Jake Bradley – 6

St Helens
1. Jack Welsby – 6
5. Regan Grace – 6
23. Konrad Hurrell – 7
4. Mark Percival – 7
2. Tommy Makinson – 7
6. Jonny Lomax – 7
7. Lewis Dodd – 9
17. Agnatius Paasi – 7
14. Joey Lussick – 9
15. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook – 6
12. Joe Batchelor – 8
16. Curtis Sironen – 8
19. Jake Wingfield – 7
Interchange
9. James Roby – 6
18. Kyle Amor – 8
24. Dan Norman – 7
26. Sam Royle – 6