First half costs York Knights in 36-16 defeat to Whitehaven

Andrew Henderson’s side had added their first points to the board against Bradford Bulls on their last outing at the LNER Community Stadium, but their performance was a polar opposite of that day.

Edene Gebbie’s fourth-minute opener set the tone for a first half in which Whitehaven were in complete control, barely making a mistake as they took advantage of the Knights’ unorganised defence and lack of desire to add 26 points to the scoreboard before the half-time whistle sounded.

That was evidenced no more than by the reaction of the club’s supporters, with the head coach met with jeers as he made his way across the pitch.

The Knights needed to respond positively after the break, but instead their mistakes continued, with both Joey Romeo and Lachlan Hanneghan crossing the whitewash as the returning Will Dagger was needlessly sent to the sin-bin for dissent.

Henderson’s side were 36 points behind by that point, with the gap again far too great to overcome despite an 11-minute burst that saw Joe Brown, Jimmy Keinhorst and Tom Lineham make the scoreline more respectable late on.

Sheffield Eagles will provide a break from the Championship when they head to North Yorkshire in the semi finals of the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup next Sunday, but the Knights must be far better than this showing to secure their spot at Wembley.

RECAP: York Knights 16-36 Whitehaven

Henderson made two changes from the side that were defeated at Batley Bulldogs last week, notably welcoming back influential full-back Dagger for the first time in four weeks after a horrific armpit tear.

Ata Hingano was also given a start at loose forward after an impressive cameo off the bench, with Conor Fitzsimmons dropping to the interchanges and Brad Ward to 18th man.

Jonty Gorley made one enforced change from Whitehaven’s narrow defeat to Featherstone Rovers, with Oscar Doran coming onto the bench for the highly experienced James Newton, seeing half-back Jamie Doran start at hooker.

The visitors started brightly, with their fourth-minute opener setting the tone for a first half in which they completely dominated and barely put a foot wrong – without being entirely spectacular.

Henderson had reaffirmed his choice to play Lineham ahead of 2023 top-scorer AJ Towse on the left wing in his pre-match press conference but was perhaps left ruing that when the winger was bundled into touch on his 30-metre line from the first tackle.

That opened the door for the visitors to open the scoring and they did so in style, with a neat show of hands seeing the ball worked to Gebbie, who flew across into the right corner for his first try for the club.

Jake Carter superbly slotted over the conversion, the first of six successful attempts from the tee.

Despite a strong defensive set from the resultant kick-off, the Knights found themselves further behind before the 10-minute mark, conceding a penalty for offside on their 20-metre line.

Carter wasted no time in calling for the tee, adding another two points to the scoreboard.

An unfortunate Ukuma Ta’ai helped orchestrate Whitehaven’s second try five minutes later after seeing a grubber bounce up off his arm and into the hands of Guy Graham, who could barely believe his luck as he was given free rein to dive beneath the posts.

Injuries then began to compound the Knights’ woes, with Fitzsimmons heading for a head injury assessment after a gash to his head just seconds after he had been introduced from the bench before captain Liam Harris injured his shoulder.

With the Knights still reeling, Whitehaven were across the whitewash again with 26 minutes played, as after Doran had been brought down metres short, Ryan King burrowed over from dummy half beneath the posts, leaving Carter with the simplest of conversions.

York did show spells, not least a neat link-up between Dagger and Keinhorst on the left edge, but the visitors were patient, with Romeo happy to mop up Nikau Williams’ grubber to the corner on the last tackle.

Gebbie was thwarted by Harris as he looked to score spectacularly from his 10-metre line, but the Knights could not prevent themselves falling further behind before the break, with Rio Corkill swatting away two defenders with ease as he raced from the 40-metre line to cross into the right corner.

With the travelling Whitehaven fans in full voice, the Knights’ were deathly silent as Carter gave his side a 26-0 advantage at the break.

Fitzsimmons was reintroduced to the action after the interval, but his side’s performance did not improve.

Will Dagger made a welcome return at full-back, but was sin-binned for dissent early in the second half. (Image: Craig Hawkhead Photography)

Romeo crashed into the left corner just two minutes after the restart after a neat show of hands, with the Knights losing Dagger to the sin-bin for his protestations in the aftermath.

The game’s first goal-line drop-out then allowed Hanneghan to carve his way through the depleted Knights’ line and score unchallenged to the right of the posts.

Carter converted the latter but not the former, extending Whitehaven’s lead to an unassailable 36 points with half an hour still to play.

That threatened to have finally kicked the hosts into gear, but after having won a six-again on the 40-metre line, a knock-on from the next tackle summed up their afternoon.

Henderson’s side did finally add their first points of the afternoon shortly after the hour, as after opting to run on the last tackle, Brown was left in acres of space to score into the right corner.

Jimmy Keinhorst was among the Knights' late scorers, but it was too little, too late to claw back the deficit. (Image: Craig Hawkhead Photography)

Dagger slotted over the extras and did so again six minutes later as the Knights showed Whitehaven’s defence could be easily breached, Keinhorst the beneficiary as a scrum on the 10-metre line was played left in his direction.

York’s free-scoring spell continued as they took advantage of another scrum, again going left through Dagger and Keinhorst before Lineham crashed over into the corner with seven minutes left to play.

That proved to be the final action, with the Knights’ comeback too little, too late for a second consecutive week.

They will hope the 1895 Cup brings better fortunes when they entertain Sheffield Eagles next Sunday (3pm).

YORK KNIGHTS; Dagger, Brown, Harrison, Keinhorst, Lineham, Williams, Harris, Ta’ai, Jubb, Thompson, Reynolds, Bailey, Hingano.

INTERCHANGES: Fitzsimmons, Teanby, Michael, Daley.

TRIES: Brown (62), Keinhorst (67), Lineham (73)

GOALS: Dagger 2/3

SIN-BIN: Dagger (43)

WHITEHAVEN: Maizen, Gebbie, Evans, Treare, Romeo, Carter, Hanneghan, Ainley, Doran, Graham, McCarron, Corkill, King.

INTERCHANGES: Doran, Worthington, Hindmarsh, Bailey.

TRIES: Gebbie (4), Graham (14), King (26), Corkill (39), Romeo (42), Hanneghan (49)

GOALS: Carter 6/7

POINTS SEQUENCE: 0-4, 0-6, 0-8, 0-12, 0-14, 0-18, 0-20, 0-24, 0-26, 0-30, 0-34, 0-36, 4-36, 6-36, 10-36, 12-36, 16-36.

HALF TIME: 0-26

YORK’S STAR MAN: Ata Hingano. An afternoon of little standout, but Hingano was influential in the Knights’ late comeback.

REFEREE: Cameron Worsley