Whitehaven are in control at half time in their third round Coral Challenge Cup tie against amateurs Wigan St Patrick's.

The match got the go ahead despite the earlier snow that swept across Cumbria and Haven will be happy with the score at the break as they lead 30-4.

They have not had it all their own way with good spells from the Conference League side but Haven have had enough guile to see them off so far.

Haven were on the scoresheet after just two minutes when continued pressure from the home side allowed Ruairi McGoff to pop the ball out to Callum Phillips to score under the posts with Connor Holliday converting.

And just minutes later Haven were over again as they switched play back out to the left and quick hands allowed Andrew Bulman to fly over the line but the resulting kick from Holliday off the touchline did not reach its target.

Wigan St Patrick's looked to try and get into the game but they lost the ball near to the Haven try line and the home side broke back upfield with Sam Forrester having a great run before he was tackled high and the home side were handed a penalty 30-metres out.

It looked as though their latest foray would not pay off but then, on the last tackle, Forrester put a high bomb towards the left corner where Bulman leapt the highest to claim it and touch down. This time Holliday was on target from wide out to make it 16-0.

Wigan showed that they were no mugs in this encounter and after a couple of penalties marched them downfield they made the best use of their field position.

A smart little pass from half-back Joe Prior saw second rower Daniel Ryding coming onto the ball at pace and he went through a gap in the Haven line to score but the conversion from Curtis Hampson was wide.

The game turned into a real battle with neither side giving anything away and there were some big hits from both teams.

But, on the half hour mark, it was Bulman who bagged his hat-trick with a spectacular dive in the corner to pull Haven further ahead, although the conversion was missed.

And they followed that up with a shift out to the right hand side where Dave Thompson finished it off by crossing in the corner but Holliday's conversion from the touchline was again wide to make the score 24-4.

With just two minutes remaining Forrester sensed an opportunity and he put in a neat little grubber kick towards the sticks and Phillips was the first to get there and touch down, with Holliday converting to make it 30-4 as the half time hooter sounded.