Referee plays his part as Whitehaven lose to classy Featherstone

Instead it was match referee Warren Turley who took centre stage with several of his decisions either mystifying or angering the home faithful.

Whitehaven had three tries disallowed and had serious concerns over two of the Featherstone scores.

For all that seemed to go against them, Haven were still in contention with 15 minutes to go, trailing 26-18.

But four tries in the last 10 minutes, albeit with one of them for the home side, pushed Rovers well clear and gave a rather unbalanced look to the score.

The first of the disallowed tries, and probably the most accurate assessment, came on 10 minutes when Conor Holliday stepped through on the left but did not ground the ball properly.

But when he became provider three minutes later Holliday had played a part in a new Whitehaven record. After striding through impressively towards the line he very unselfishly gave Calvert a walk-in to claim the new try-scoring record of 226.

But as the half developed, nip and tuck in nature, Haven just couldn’t keep the lead long enough.

Three times they got in front and each time, within five minutes they had been pegged back.

Rovers went in front for the first time on 18 minutes with a converted try.

On 20 minutes, though, the lead changed hands again. When Haven moved the ball left Holliday appeared to have been stopped but somehow he got the ball away and Calvert raced in for his second touchdown.

Unfortunately, Whitehaven’s kickers – Louis Jouffret and John Paul Brocklebank - only managed one successful attempt at goal from six efforts.

Featherstone scored again but Whitehaven roared back and good work by Grant Gore put Dave Allen in for a try which gave Jouffret his sole goal of the night.

But the very nature of the game suggested there would soon be a score at the other end – and there was, although this was another major talking point.

Craven broke well and before reaching the last man put in a clever kick for Taulapapa to chase. The New Zealander certainly got to the ball and picked-up but as he dived for the line was hit by the covering tackle of Chris Taylor.

The corner flag went flying but had he put a foot in touch or grounded the ball properly?

Touch judge and referee thought everything was in order and Foster’s touchline conversion gave Rovers an 18-14 lead.

Ten minutes into the second-half Fev landed a simple penalty in front of the posts and, for the first time, had a six-point lead.

Then Whitehaven had a second try disallowed. On 53 minutes Gore put in a long kick, chased it well and dispossessed Kyran Johnston before striding over the line only to find he had been penalised.

Jouffret sent Dion Aiye bursting through to score wide out on the left. But celebrations were quickly nipped in the bud when the referee ruled that Aiye had stepped over the dead ball line.

To compound the situation Allen made a super break on the hour but inexplicably didn’t give the ball to John Paul Brocklebank who was up in support. Allen went on for a couple of strides too many and when he did decide to pass Jouffret couldn’t hold on.

After all that, when Whitehaven could have had a healthy lead, it was a slap in the face when Rovers responded with a try.

Haven hit back on 64 minutes when Allen put Jessie Joe Parker in for a try but Featherstone started to exploit gaps with three tries through the tiring Whitehaven defence.

In between the admirable Holliday got another unconverted try for Whitehaven on 72 minutes but it was too little, too late.

Whitehaven: Jouffret, Burns, Taylor, Holliday, Calvert, Aiye, Gore, Riley, Newton, T. Chapelhow, Allen, Parker, Carberry. Subs (all used) Brocklebank, Duffy, Davies, Fox.

Tries: Calvert (2), Allen, Parker, Holliday. Goal: Jouffret.

Featherstone: Craven, Johnston, Hardman, Taulapapa, Foster, Abdull, Thackeray, Bostock, Ellis, Baldwinson, Cording, Davies, Spears. Subs (all used) Roache, Ormondroyd, Briggs, Griffin.

Tries: Taulapapa (3), Johnston, Thackeray, Roache, Craven. Goals: Foster (8).

Referee: Warren Turley

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