Hornets exposed to'Haven blast

As expected, Hornets found themselves blasted by the fallout of a Whitehaven whirwind.

Whilst the scoreline reflects ‘haven’s superiority, the game was lost in the second quarter when Hornets failed to withstand a concerted raise in pace and pressure following Paul Anderson’s sin-binning for quite possibly the most gormless offence possible.

Whitehaven were leading 6-0 courtesy of a close range effort well worked between Walsh and Seeds when, with the ball dead and being returned to the ‘haven 20 for a tap restart, Anderson flicked the ball from an opponent’s hand in an attempt to slow down the re-start. Referee Klein showed him the Yellow Card, Whitehaven took the ball downfield and the ball was worked to Nanyn who strode through slack tackling to score.

He was followed by Obst four minutes later. ‘Haven found good field position after Liam Williams let a harmless 40-20 effort trickle into touch and Obst belied his midget status to bounce off tacklers to rattle through and score. Anderson’s first contribution on his return was to join his colleagues under the crossbar as Nanyn converted an O’Neill try. He converted yet another of his own three minutes later having sleepwalked through tackling so transparent that I couldn’t see it.

Hornets only meaningful contribution to proceedings came on 37 minutes when Michael Platt joined the line at speed to score. Half time 6-26 and the game dead in the water.

The second half began as the first finished. Hornets defence flailing and flapping; Obst in on 45 minutes, Walsh on 55 minutes. Both the result of defensive napping. Hornets did dig in a little - a well-worked effort by Lee Birdseye a small crumb of comfort in a 15 minute respite from the ‘haven points tide.

Sadly, though, Hornets switched off ten minutes from time. Substitute Carl Sice’s repeated darts at the heart of a deflated defence paid dividends after 70 minutes and Kiddie put the cherry on it after 70 minutes as he single-handedly followed a kick through to score unopposed.

Bobby Goulding - much like the majority of the Hornets supporters - was singularly unimpressed with his team’s effort.

“There was a lack of effort,” he said: “... and when they don’t stick to the game-plan it’s very frustrating.”

He now has two weeks to inject some steel into a pack that relies way too much on the never-give-up attitude of Tommy Hodgkinson; and some belief into a backline that looks half scared of moving the ball around.

With Featherstone in a similar state of low confidence, the game at Post Office Road in a fortnight is a vital must-win. Back to the tackling bags I think.