Last updated 16:04, Wednesday, 30 July 2008

MAMMA Mia may be all the rage at the cinema box office but, in rugby terms, Whitehaven are suddenly taking the National League by storm.

A third successive victory last Sunday might well have had the fans dancing on The Recre terraces, figuratively speaking, so impressive were they in sweeping aside fancied Halifax.

But it was enough to bask in the sunshine of yet another handsome win in an exhilarating encounter, a maximum nine points all against top six rivals.

So Haven find themselves sitting pretty in fourth place with the prize of a decent play-off spot tantalisingly in sight – anyone with such lofty thoughts a couple of months back would have been locked up and the keys thrown away.

Also, anyone thinking that Ged Stokes and his Kiwi henchman Tane Manihera would subsequently arrive on the scene might have suffered a similar fate.

Mr Stokes, for one, must have the proverbial Midas Touch. Haven were at rock bottom when the craggy New Zealander took over from Paul Crarey, but look at them now.

You don’t turn a rugby league sow’s ear into a silk purse without good coaching, so take another bow Ged, along with your back-up staff.

High expectations have suddenly re-emerged – supporters are openly talking about the possibility of making another Grand Final appearance.

Who says Status Quo are the only talk in town? This rugby league team have set a few tongues wagging themselves.

Whitehaven have peaked at just the right time. They are playing good football, controlled and aggressive, but the difference comes in one word: Belief.

Defence wins tough matches as it did on Sunday, even though Haven scored five tries to three.

Haven simply refused to yield in the face of pressure under which most teams in the division would have wilted, especially in such heat. But it was a case of ‘though shalt not pass’ as Gary Broadbent-inspired Haven put their bodies well and truly on the line.

And if anyone chooses to dub Haven ‘Dad’s Army’ then they’re the ones likely to get locked up at the moment.

Whitehaven have a few players on the wrong side of 30, one of them being Leroy Joe. Magician and wizard were some of the superlatives after the way the ageless Kiwi tormented Fax and completely eclipsed their own veteran general, Graham Holroyd.

Smokin’ Joe still possesses some of the best handling skills in the business. He can play with the ball on a string but, this time around, Fax must have felt it was attached to his boot as he executed three tries in a row at the Kells End. Harlem Globetrotters try-kick style, said Gordon Grace.

But the best quote to come from Haven’s chairman, as he left the grandstand, went something like this; ‘We’ll have to sack the coach – we are having to pay out too much winning money.”’

Mr Grace was joking of course, as he headed down to shake the hands of the players as usual wearing a broad smile. No chairman deserves to be happier at the moment because all that’s gone before has made the team’s renaissance all the more remarkable.

As an ex-packman himself in union, Gordon Grace just loves the way Haven’s forwards have started to carry all before them – with a smile on their faces.

As Ged Stokes puts it: “We are a unit and this is where we can have the edge on sides who rely more on stars and gamebreakers.”

No one was more impressed in Haven’s formidable show up front than one of the greatest forwards ever to wear the chocolate blue and gold.

Geoff Robinson, member of a legendary back three with Dick Huddart and Steve McCourt, knows what he’s talking about, helping drive the magnificent Whitehaven pack which overpowered Australia (in 1956) and steamrollered the side almost to Wembley the following season.

Big Robbo, who left Haven for Oldham a record £9,500 fee in 1959 and now lives near Penrith, told me: “None of the glamour clubs wanted to come up to Whitehaven because they knew the strength of our pack. I hated it as well when I came back with Oldham and Warrington – I’d love to see this happen again. The pack is the foundation and the fear factor.

“I was impressed by what I saw from these big Whitehaven lads. They also have pace and distribution as well as getting over the gain line.”

Smiles all round, not least from Mr Grace who was able to go to the bank on Monday morning after his biggest cash count at the gate so far. He also picked out a winner in Ged Stokes – the chairman could so easily say: ‘I told you so.’