Whitehaven RLFC faced off against Barrow Raiders over the weekend, unfortunately losing the game 4-18.

This is the team's second game of the new season and they do not appear to be able to step up to the mark quite yet.

It was a big game for Whitehaven, being that it was the Cumbrian Derby, and weather conditions brought an unexpected element to the match.

We spoke to Head Coach Jonty Gorley to get his thoughts on the Sunday's game and how he thinks his side can improve.

Mr Gorley said: "The game didn't go according to plan and the game set off really poorly. I'm not happy at all with how the game went in the first half in particular the first thirty minutes.

"We came to a bit after that but the damage was done. I think the problems were caused by how we set off the game as we were six points behind without even touching the ball. We were behind the sticks after thirty seconds and this was through an error of our own. After twenty three minutes we were 18-0 down and hadn't played great as Barrow had coped with the conditions better than we did.

"We were down to twelve men and they managed to get two tries when we were down to this number of players. I asked them to do as we would with any team by going set for set with them and getting a fair share of the ball. They didn't score again and we did, it's as simple as that.

"When we're in a game going set for set we'll stand a chance but when we're not we won't. It's all about ball control and we need to get through our sets. If we make an error we need to be able to defend it because if we do that or we're indisciplined we're conceding tries. As a group we've got to improve, it's the ball security that's really causing us problems."

Whitehaven's next game will be against London Broncos away on February 13 2022.