Whitehaven 10 Bradford Bulls 46: Whitehaven suffered their second consecutive defeat at the start of the 2016 Championship season as they were beaten 46-10 by Bradford Bulls at The Recreation Ground.

Bulls half-back Lee Gaskell was the star of the show as he scored a hat-trick, with the first of his three tries coming in the first-half as the visitors raced into a 24-0 lead.

James Clare opened the scoring in the first three minutes and was followed by Gaskell, Jay Pitts and Dale Ferguson.

Despite going four scores behind after 20 minutes, Haven improved and hit back shortly before half-time through Jay Chapelhow.

The home side stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half and reduced the deficit to 14 points through Star Man Connor Holliday’s try.

Last year’s league runner’s up Bradford, however, kicked back into gear and added a further 22 points to their total with Gaskell securing his hat-trick, Pitts adding to his first-half try and Adam O’Brien crossing the line for the Yorkshire side.

Bradford raced into the lead after the first of 20 penalties given to either side during the game.

The Bulls set up camp in Haven’s half and Clare was found on the left-hand side and the winger pushed through opposite number Ed Chamberlain to put Bradford ahead - Addy kicked the first of seven goals through the uprights for a 6-0 lead after three minutes.

Adam Sidlow was denied a try after being held up by some strong defence on the last tackle but the Bulls didn’t have to wait long for their next score as Gaskell kicked behind Haven’s defence with his team’s next set and met his own kick for his first try.

Pitts scored his first try moments later after backing up Addy and taking a neat offload to score under the posts.

As well as Bradford were playing in attack, Haven were also giving up field position through handling errors and penalties.

Ferguson scored the pick of the first-half tries after taking a short pass and then slicing through Haven’s defence to race 30 metres to score.

Bradford were 24-0 up after as many minutes. Haven were handed a lifeline just before the break as Aiye, moved to second forward for this weekend’s game, won a penalty after a strong run up the middle.

In their next set, the Cumbrians scored their first points of the evening. Grant Gore put a kick through on the last and it was knocked on by the usually reliable Richie Mathers and both Jay Chapelhow and Stephen Fox beat the full-back to the loose ball in the in-goal with the try being awarded to Chapelhow.

Haven were much improved at the start of the second half as they forced an early goal-line dropout and pressed for a second score.

Aiye was stopped short on the left-hand side by four defenders but Haven managed to get the ball out to the right and a quick play gave them a numbers advantage down the right with Holliday barging over to score his first try of the season.

With a number of crucial refereeing decisions going against Haven, the Cumbrians were unable to add to their points tally and Bradford scored almost immediately after Holliday’s try through O’Brien who span out of a tackle and went over from dummy-half.

Gaskell added his second 20 minutes from time after dropping his shoulder and going through Haven’s defence. Pitts then scored his side’s seventh of the afternoon after reacting to a dropped ball from a last-tackle kick.

Bradford’s half-back secured his hat-trick in unusual fashion after the final hooter. Louis Jouffret took a kick as as the hooter sounded and the Frenchman tried a kick through onrushing defenders but the ball bounced back off Adrian Purtell’s shins.

The Bradford centre then picked up the ball and raced for the line before offloading to Gaskell in support to give him his hat-trick.

Addy converted for a final score of 46-10 to the Bulls.

Whitehaven: Jouffret, Chamberlain, Holliday, Parker, Miller; Gore, Brocklebank; Riley, Coyle, T Chapelhow, Allen, Aiye, Brooks. Subs: Newton, J Chapelhow, Davies, Fox

Tries: J Chapelhow, Holliday; Goal: Brocklebank 1/2

Bradford: Mathers, Clare, Purtell, Welham, Caro; Gaskell, Addy; Sidlow, O’Brien, Olbison, Ferguson, Haggerty, Pitts. Subs: Blythe, Lovegrove, Clark, Mellor

Tries: Clare, Gaskell 3, Pitts 2, Ferguson, O’Brien; Goals: Addy 7/8

Referee: J Roberts

Attendance: 878