Midlands Hurricanes 24-30 Whitehaven RLFC
Betfred Championship Round Fifteen
By Tom Kiernan-Wilson
After three months and five days of on the road fixtures, the Canes were back at Avery Fields hosting Cumbrian side Whitehaven. After drawing with Haven 20-20 at the Ortus Rec at the start of our then 10-game away run, the Canes were keen to make the most of their home advantage.
In the opening five minutes the Canes looked the far more dominant outfit, forcing Haven to concede a goal-line drop out but ultimately not taking advantage of early territory. However, against the run of play it would be Haven who scored first as Ellison Holgate was the lucky recipient of a nice break down the left edge to open the scoring (0-4). Ciaran Walker would convert (0-6).
The Canes would again regain some momentum and apply pressure to the Haven defence, but once again the Cumbrian side would find themselves with an opportunity to score after a penalty for a ball steal, and Walker would happily add the two points from the kicking tee (0-8).
Frustration would set in for the home contingent as we entered the second quarter, as the Canes would be unable to make the most of their opportunities with the ball. That frustration would only worsen as the away side once again made a break and Walker would scramble over to score (0-12) before converting his own effort (0-14).
Whitehaven now had their tails up, and on the 25-minute mark nailed an impressive 40/20 kick to put themselves in a dominant attacking position. Early into the set the Canes would concede a penalty for a high tackle, and Walker would once again call for the kicking tee and nudge the away side further ahead (0-16).
In the dying moments of the first half, the Canes would open their account as some nice movement from right to left found Todd Horner in space to pass out wide to Matty Chrimes who leapt into the corner and just about held on to the ball to score (4-16). Just before the hooter, Sully Medforth was unable to land a difficult conversion from out wide.
Any hopes of maintaining momentum after Chrimes’ try were dashed early into the second half, as three minutes in a high bomb on the last led to a chaotic scramble that ended with Walker coasting through to score (4-20). Walker would go on to convert his own effort (4-22).
The Canes would however strike back soon after, as five minutes later Matty Chrimes would wrestle out of a Walker challenge to get the ball down in the left-hand corner (8-22). Sully would nail an impressive conversion from out wide and the Canes would be back within two converted tries (10-22).
The Canes almost went back-to-back, as a high bomb on the last from Sully would be plucked out of the air by Woody before being dragged down just short of the try-line. There would also be other attempts to get ourselves back in the game, but unfortunately we were unable to capitalise.
Haven would then extend their lead just before the 60-minute mark, as following a goal-line drop out a nice grubber would be pounced on by Ethan Bickerdike close to the left-hand side of the sticks (10-26). Walker would once again nail the conversion (10-28).
Fifteen minutes from the end, the Canes almost got their third try of the game as a nice grubber from Lewis Else bobbled into the Haven in-goal but could not be pounced on by Chrimes before it rolled dead for a 7-tackle restart. Five minutes later, Mikey Wood would be sin-binned for a high shot in front of our sticks, and Walker took no chances by slotting over another two points (10-30).
The final five minutes would see the 12-man Canes come to life and show the finishing ability that had been missing for large portions of the game. Aidan McGowan would finish an attack in the right corner following a pass from Horner, (14-30) but Sully could not convert from out wide.
A couple of minutes later, McGowan would grab his second as some good buildup created the space for a nice cut-out pass that would allow him to once again finish in the right-hand corner (18-30). Sully was once again unable to convert.
With less than 90 seconds to go the Canes would nail their third try in five minutes as Zach Jebson would score his first Canes try by finishing off a nice attacking move just right of the posts (22-30), which Sully was able to hurriedly convert (24-30). All of a sudden, hopes of rescuing a draw at the death began to surface.
Those hopes would unfortunately be dashed soon after, as Lewis Else would be wrestled to the ground by former Coventry Bears loanee Brad Brennan and release the ball after suffering a suspected collarbone injury. A couple of tackles later, the full-time hooter and the Whitehaven players would celebrate holding on to secure their fourth Championship win of the season.
Despite Saturday’s defeat, Mark Dunning’s men remain in 8th place as other results would go in the Canes favour. The boys will need to dust themselves down pretty quickly as they face another tough challenge as we welcome London Broncos to Avery Fields for the Semi-Final of the 1895 Cup.
Man of the Match:
Matty Chrimes (Sponsored by Project Furniture)
Tries:
Chrimes (2), McGowan (2) and Jebson
Cons:
Medforth (2/5)
