Resurgent Swinton Lions made it two wins from two Championship games as they surged to a 40-12 victory over struggling Whitehaven.
Louie Roberts scored a superb hat-trick as the Lions’ remarkable upturn in form under Anthony Murray continued at Heywood Road.
Whitehaven had a good first half and went in level, but were blitzed after the break as Swinton Lions scored unanswered tries to take the game out of reach.
Louie Roberts put the Lions ahead in the third minute when Reece Briers put him through a gap and Reece Briers kicked the first of his six conversions.
Haven tried to hit back quickly, but a ball handling error let them down, and it was the Lions who went further ahead on 17 minutes when Josh Eaves sent Briers through a gap to score by the posts and he converted.
Lions knocked on in the first tackle after the restart, and this put Haven in a good position on the field. They took advantage when a nice kick from Ciaran Walker found Ellison Holgate and he scored under the posts and Walker converted.
Some good play then by Haven and Jordan Burns was causing the Lions’ defence lots of headaches trying to get his side over the tryline.
Burns had two good chances on two attacks and on the second one, he was held up. Holgate forced a goal-line dropout in the last minute of the half and with seconds left before the hooter, Brad Brennan took three defenders over the line to score under the posts and Walker converted to send the teams in level.
Brennan almost got a second straight after the restart, but knocked on just short of the line. Tom Ratchford then knocked on for the Lions, but it was he who, on 50 minutes, sent out a nice pass for Trent Kelly-Duffy to go over by the posts and Briers converted.
Walker then kicked a forty-twenty for his side, but it came to nothing when Sam Woodend couldn’t take a long pass to score in the corner.
From this point on, the Lions were in total control and on 62 minutes, a nice short kick by Jordy Gibson produced a second try for Kelly-Duffy and Briers converted again.
Pat Ah Van scored his first Lions try on 68 minutes when Gibson and Briers combined to send him over in the corner, but no conversion from Briers. Roberts added his second try with ten minutes left after a nice pass from Jordan Brown and Briers converted.
Woodend had another chance with six minutes left, but it was Roberts who completed his hat trick with five minutes left after Haven knocked on in the Lions’ half and some good build-up play saw him race away to score on the right and Briers again converted.
There was more Haven pressure in the final minutes, but the Lions’ defence held them out, and the game was won.
After a torrid run of eight consecutive Championship losses at the start of the season, Swinton Lions are now unbeaten in three games and enjoying a major bounce under Murray, who was appointed at the end of March.
His side will travel across Greater Manchester to face Rochdale Hornets next on Sunday, 24 May, 3pm kick-off.
Match report by Iann Rigg, featured image supplied by Brett Thurlow.
