Month: February 2025

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Haven lose out at Swinton but show promise in Defeat

Haven travelled to South Manchester buoyed by their performance agains Warrington Wolves and including three new faces in loanee Tom McKinney NEW signing Cameron Brown and ex Barrow winger Max Anderson-Moore

The home side started well and on 6 minutes they broke down the left and fed the ball inside to the supporting Jordan Paga who touched down by the posts conversion was good . Haven came into it more after the opener and the strong wind was causing problems with the defenders as they tried to control the ball. Haven came into the game after that first 15 minutes and they opened their account when Ethan Bickerdike crossed on the right, but Kieran Tyrer was unable to add the conversion. Both sides then had chances at the line but handing let them down in the difficult conditions. The Lions went back in the lead twelve minutes from the break when a superb, angled run by Harry Higham saw the centre cut inside to race in under the posts and Abram added the conversion. . The half finished with both sides again having good chances but this time defences were on top The score at the hooter Swinton 12 Haven 4
It was Haven who made the good start in the second half and went close in the opening minutes but a knock on stopped them scoring but they did capitalise in the end when Aaron Turnbull took a couple of defenders with him to score by the posts and Tyrer converted this one. After that Haven dominated matters and created two clear cut scoring opportunities .

On 59 minutes Jack Newbigin made a good break on the right and with the line begging he held onto the ball rather than passing to supporting players . They then bombed a try on the left when Jordan Burns lost control of the ball going for the corner. The game could have gone either way and the defences were being tested but holding out well. One high kick by Haven caused major problems for the Lions defence as it was swirling and bouncing all over the place but in the end, Abram got it under control and cleared his line. The match winner for the Lions came with just under two minutes left when Abram put a high ball towards the line, and it was fumbled by a Haven defender and Higham was first to react to collect the ball and dive over on the right, but Abram was unable to convert, and the defences held out for the dying seconds.

Final Score Swinton Lions 16 Haven 10

Great effort and commitment from the Haven , their squad is coming together nicely , Was this our best squad ? I think so, with Keighley next up at the Recre there is definitely more to come

WHITEHAVEN

1 Jordan Burns 2 Mitchell Todd 3 Chris Taylor 4 Ethan Bickerdike 22 Max Anderson-Moore 6 Kieran Tyrer 26 Jack Newbegin
8 Jake Pearce 9 Ellison Holgate 10 Jordan Thomson 11 Connor Holliday 19 Rio McQuistan 13 Jack Kellett

Subs (all used) 14 Cameron Brown 17 Thomas McKinney 18 Aaron Turnbull 16 Brad Brennan Tries: Bickerdike (15), Turnbull 48) Goals: Tyrer 1/2

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Super League Wolves take the tie but Haven take the plaudits

Jordan Burns Havens man of the match in Cup tie v Warrington

This third round Challenge Cup tie was another test in the short history of this new look Haven squad , A win was never a realistic outcome to this tie . The question was how would Havens young guns shape up to their full time Super league Opponents . The ties played on Friday suggested a cricket score might be the outcome !

With four games played so far the Haven 17 man squad that was named for this game was probably their best combination while the Wolves if not at full strength had a good sprinkling of regular Super league players in their line up .

The team took to the field in a packed Ortus Recreation ground , 3980 being the official attendance

Much as expected it was the visitors who dominated the first quarter , Hooker Danny Walker got the Wolves first try of the day and went on to get another just before the break . Other trys for visitors came from Olli Leyland and winger Jake Thewlis and with three conversions the score at the interval wa Haven nil Warrington Wolves 22 . Though that scoreline does not reflect the efforts the Haven team put in especially in defence .

The second stanza continued with the Wolves adding to trys to extend their lead to 32 points . However on 59 mins the crowd were on their feet as Havens Jay Wetherill score maybe the games best try . With Haven in possession on the Halfway line Wolves overcommit on defence allowing Ethan Bickerdike to slip the ball to supporting Jordan Burns who sprints 40 yards and feeds Jay Wetherill for amazing try Goal missed Whitehaven 4 Warrington Wolves 32 but it was seventh heaven for the Haven fans

The Wolves continued to press forward and in the last 10 minutes added two more converted trys to make the final score Whitehaven 4 Warrington Wolves 44 . Not the rout some had predicted and a game which the young Haven squad will have learned a lot from and one where they can bask in the praise they deserve , while the club itself will have boosted its finances on the back of an almost four thousand gate

Onto the League 1 campaign at Swinton in a fortnight ,.

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Haven bow out of 1895 Cup in the Midlands

MIDLANDS Hurricanes put on a classy performance, for the first hour at least, to ease past Whitehaven and go through to the second round of the 1895 Cup.

After two good wins in the last fortnight the Haven could feel optimistic ahead of the tie however Coach Anthonly Murray opted for numerous changes in the Haven line up the outcome of this Cup tie was always in question .

The Home team led from the second minute of the match. After kicking a high bomb on the final tackle of their first set, the ball was spilled and from the scrum, Travis Corion dived over in the corner. Jake Sweeting converted well, as he would for eight of the Hurricanes’ nine tries in all including Matty Hanley’s first, picking up a pin-perfect Sweeting tip to run over unchallenged, soon after. Whitehaven got on the board on 16 minutes. A good set of passes ended with Ellis Nixon running over, and Kieran Tyrer converted to halve the deficit. On 22 minutes, it was 18-6. From a penalty, Midlands again played a strong set and Tom Wilkinson found a gap to run through for his side’s third try. Their fourth came just after the half-hour mark. Winning a second set thanks to a Haven knock-on, Midlands worked their way up from halfway culminating in Ross Oakes diving over in the corner. Before half-time they had a fifth try. Ethan Bickerdike tripped as he looked to pick up a long kick, resulting in a goal-line drop-out, and from that set Hanley finished off a good passing move. Sweeting couldn’t land a difficult kick – his only miss – but Midlands were 28-6 up at the break. Less than three minutes into the second half, Midlands again played an excellent move to score. Hanley caught the ball from a high bomb, offloading to Sweeting who happily grounded and converted. Whitehaven had spent less than five minutes with the ball in Midlands’ half during the first 40 minutes and even when they looked dangerous in the first 20 minutes of the second period, they wasted their chances. From a good-looking Whitehaven attack, Oakes intercepted and ran the first 40 metres to set up Midlands’ next try. He passed to Hanley who completed the other 50 metres. Then it happened again. This time it was Todd Horner who intercepted on his own ten-metre line, sprinting the full length himself and scoring under the sticks. Oakes was the next to score, grounding in the corner for his second of the game to bring up the half-century of points. Horner looked for a further try, which would have been Midlands’ tenth, but he dropped the ball as he tried desperately to get through the last line of defence. After that, it was all Whitehaven. Brad Brennan scored the first of their revival, converted by Jay Weatherill who then scored one of his own as Whitehaven put on their best move of the match to break open the tiring home defence. And to finish, Mason Lewthwaite picked up a grubber to score and Weatherill again converted.

GAMESTAR: Ross Oakes scored a couple of good tries, created another and ran hard for Whitehaven Jay Wtherill

GAMEBREAKER: Two tries in the first ten minutes of the second half gave Midlands a lead that was too much for Whitehaven.

WHITEHAVEN 4 Ethan Bickerdike 1 Aaron Burns 3 Scott Egan 2 Mitchell Todd 5 Jay Weatherill 6 Kieran Tyrer 26 Jack Newbegin 16 Brad Brennan 14 Luke Collins 17 Karl Garner 15 Mason Lewthwaite 21 Ellis Nixon 13 Jack Kellett Subs (all used) 24 Josh Blinkhorn 12 Clarke Chambers 23 Tom Farren 18 Aaron Turnbull Tries: Nixon (16), Brennan (68), Weatherill (71), Lewthwaite (77) Goals: Tyrer 1/1, Weatherill 3/3