Whitehaven Rugby League defeated by Keighley

The West Cumbrian side were defeated 56-14 by the Yorkshire outfit Keighley.

The away game was held in Keighley on Sunday, February 22.

Head coach Anthony Murray said: "We didn't get out of the blocks; it was around 22-0 after 15 or 20 minutes.

"Four back-to-back penalties away on this field, and before you know if you're defending it on your try line.

"You just can't do that to Keighley, who've got Burton, Flanaghan coming on, Farrell and Burrell calling the shots, the other big back row on the other side.

"And some towering middles coming at you on your goal line when you're trying to defend it.

"We gave them too much start too early, but then we got ourselves back into it, we started going set to set, started giving penalties away, we scored a couple of nice little tries.

"I thought that's the best we've looked all season with the ball and sort of poking and prodding.

"We go in the sheds at half time, our tails up a little bit, and then just came out in that second half and then just capitulated again defensively.

"That was the story of the afternoon, really, we just weren't good enough defensively, and that's really disappointing.

"Fair play to Keighley, they schooled us in all areas there, they played on that front foot, and we defended on our heels."

He continued: "It's tough because this week we sort of didn't cover as much as we normally would, and I felt like we needed to really sharpen up attack lines.

"Then you come here, and you're poor defensively again. I'm just really frustrated at the moment because we've worked so hard in all areas technically and defensively. You could see that early on in the season.

"We dropped off a little bit, and we just didn't dominate and control Keighley."