Whitehaven need to ask more questions of the opposition if they are to make any sort of mark in the Championship.

Coach Gary Charlton was assessing the opening day defeat at home to Swinton Lions when the Cumbrians lost 14-0 at the Recreation Ground.

“We didn’t complete enough of our sets and when we did keep the ball did not ask them enough questions,” he said. “That’s what we have to come up with as we go forward. I couldn’t fault the effort and commitment but we need to be creating more opportunities and it was especially disappointing not to get on the scoresheet.”

He went on: “We are going to come up with better teams than Swinton and they showed that it’s important to complete sets, kick well and chase effectively. By comparison we didn’t do enough with the ball when we had it to pose them problems and that’s something we have to learn.

“It couldn’t have been a worse start for us because the kick-off went straight into touch and that enabled them to put on early pressure without us getting the ball back. They scored from a fourth consecutive set and we were chasing the game, although there was plenty of time. It didn’t help that we had an early injury to Chris Taylor and had to reorganise but young Jake Bradley came on and did a good job for us,” added the Haven coach.

Taylor suffered a bad knock to the knee which will be assessed during the week, but Haven already have Glenn Riley, Brett Carter and Connor Holliday out through injury.

They will be in the swimming pool at St. Benedict’s tonight and train on Wednesday and Friday before travelling to London on Saturday where they take on the Broncos on Sunday.

The Broncos opened their campaign with a narrow 18-14 win at Bradford Bulls.