Match Report: Midlands Hurricanes 24 Whitehaven 30

A dominant performance saw Whitehaven collect their second consecutive victory despite being made to sweat in the final minutes of their longest away trip of the season.

The contest saw the home side on top in the early stages with Haven's first try in just the 5th minute, coming against the early run of play. Jordan Burns broke through the defensive line before, finding Seth Woodend on his outside shoulder. This continued the march down the field before inside passes to Ethan Bickerdike who found the supporting Ellison Holgate to put the ball down under the sticks. Ciaran Walker slotted over the conversion from right in front of the sticks.

Walker later extended the lead just short of the quarter of an hour mark. This followed the home side being penalised for offside, with the visitors taking the simple two points on offer to make it an eight point advantage. 

Ciaran Walker has steadily grown into becoming Haven's player of the campaign and this contest was no different. He crossed for his sixth try of the season in the 24th minute, following fantastic work from Ben Pearce to break through two successive tackles before finding the supporting Walker. He had no opposition in front of him to ground the ball beyond the whitewash and once more taking the opportunity to take the extra two points on offer.

Whitehaven celebrate touching down against Midlands Hurricanes. (Image: Brett Thurlow)

The lead further extended minutes later through another penalty goal from the boot of Walker with the home side once again pinned for offside after a magnificently struck 40/20 from Jack Newbegin marched Whitehaven down the field once more. It seemed like the Cumbrians would take a 16 point lead into the break but winger Matty Chrimes certainly had other ideas with a wonderful diving effort in the left hand side corner reduced the deficit to just 12 points in the final action of the half. The ball was shifted from right to left through several pairs of hands before the pivotal passes from Lewis Else to Todd Horner before the final ball to Chrimes allowing the winger to score his ninth of the season. Sully Medforth's conversion attempt fell across the face of the sticks before landing wide. 

Whitehaven celebrate scoring against Midlands Hurricanes. (Image: Brett Thurlow)

The second half got off to an ideal start again for James Newton's side as they capitalised on a Todd Horner fumble, collecting a high kick from Ciaran Walker as Jack Newbegin collected the ball before finding the supporting Walker who crossed for his second of the afternoon. This re-established the sixteen point lead that had been reduced just before the half time break. Walker extended that lead by a further two points adding his 5th goal of the afternoon.

It was a yo-yo second half and the Canes soon hit back once again through Matty Chrimes after being marched down the field following a penalty given away by Whitehaven for a high tackle on halfback Lewis Else. Medforth grabbed his first conversion of the afternoon to bring their deficit back to 12 points. 

The points looked secured for Whitehaven just before the hour mark as Ethan Bickerdike was on the end of another deft Ciaran Walker kick. As the half back controlled the game once more, the score was Bickerdike's sixth score of the season and seemed to set Whitehaven on their way for the back to back victories for the first time in 2026. This completes an unbeaten double over the Hurricanes having drawn with them at the Recreation Ground back in March. Walker remained 100% with the boot adding the conversion from close to the touchline. He completed a personal points haul of 22 points, adding a seventh goal of the afternoon following Mikey Wood being penalised for a high tackle on Jackson Smith with just seven minutes to go. The loose forward was sent to the sin-bin for his infringement. 

This seemed to awaken the home side as they scored three tries in five minutes to put the Cumbrians to the sword. It was back to back scores for winger Aidan McGowan, grounding the ball in the right hand side corner twice as the play book was thrown right out of the window from the home side. They shifted the ball left to right then right to left looking to exploit gaps in the tiring Haven defence.

Sully Medforth failed to add the conversion from both of the McGowan scores to keep Haven with a 12 point advantage with 2 and half minutes on the clock. The pressure was truly put on just a minute later, however, as Zach Jebson's kick over the top bounced back into the hands of the centre before crossing the whitewash to reduce the deficit once more. Medforth was successful with the conversion after this latest score and it was set up with a grandstand finish with just 70 seconds remaining. The home side threw the ball around immediately from kick off and Lewis Else looked to have broken the line, but a last gasp tackle from Brad Brennan forced a knock on from Else ensuring Haven secured the two points as the full time hooter sounded. 

MATCHFACTS

TEAMS
HURRICANES

1 Todd Horner
2 Matty Chrimes
3 Ryan Johnson
21 Zach Jebson
23 Aidan McGown
19 Sully Medforth
7 Lewis Else
8 Jon Luke Kirby
14 Brandon Moore
10 Tyler Dickinson
11 Tom Wilkinson
20 Toby Warren
13 Mikey Wood

SUBS

30 James Woodburn-Hall
9 Aiden Roden
16 Zeus Silk
28 Isaac Shaw

Tries

Chrimes 2 (38,49), McGowan 2 (75,77), Jebson (79)

Goals

Medforth 2/5

HAVEN

1 Jordan Burns
19 Dave Eccleston
2 Mitchell Todd
4 Ethan Bickerdike
39 Seth Woodend
6 Ciaran Walker
7 Jack Newbegin
24 Lewis Brown
9 Ellison Holgate
16 Brad Brennan
11 Connor Holliday
23 Ben Pearce
13 Jack Kellett

SUBS

15 Ellis Nixon
20 Marc Shackley
12 Rio McQuistan
35 Jackson Smith

Tries

Holgate (5), Walker 2 (24,43), Bickerdike (58)

Goals

Walker 7/7 

Penalty Count: 4-7
Half time: 4-16
Referee: Aaryn Belafonte