Whitehaven scored seven tries at the International Stadium (Thunderdrome) to avenge their Challenge Cup defeat by Gateshead on the same ground.

It finished 38-34 to the west Cumbrians and was as tight as the final scoreline suggests with never more than eight points between the two sides.

Two tries by scrum-half Gregg McNally, in the space of two minutes, midway through the second-half proved to be the decisive scores.

He exchanged passes with Kyle Amor to race way and score the first and then went from halfway after he picked-up a loose ball. He converted both and from 30-26 in arrears the visitors had suddenly gone 38-30 ahead which proved to be the biggest lead of the entire match.

There was only one further score, an unconverted try by Paul Franze three minutes from time, and Whitehaven were over the finish line for a vital three points.

Understandably coach Ged Stokes was none-too pleased about his side’s defending but generally happy about  the way the win was contrived with some excellent tries.

“You never know quite what to expect at Gateshead because they always seem to have a new team out. Because of that it can be a difficult place to visit so to get the win, after we had failed in the Cup, was good.

“It wasn’t outstanding defending at all but I thought we did better in that aspect of the game in the second-half.

“The two tries from Gregg in the second-half were vital. He did excellent again and when our forwards are going well that’s when Gregg starts to shine,” said Stokes.

As if to reinforce Stokes’ assessment, Gateshead gave debuts to three players from the French club Pia and between them they scored five of the home side’s seven tries.

The difference in the end was goal-kicking. McNally landed five out of seven, but Thunder could manage only three from the same number of attempts.

Whitehaven had made a flying start with a try from Craig Calvert after only two minutes when he got on the end of a clever kick by Carl Rudd.

Thunder drew level on eight minutes when a neat, short pass from Neil Thorman put second row forward Jamie Cording in for a try.

The topsy turvy nature of the game continued with Gateshead going ahead for the first time on 11 minutes when Franze marked his debut with a try. But that advantage lasted only four minutes before Calvert shot through to score his second after clever handling by Whitehaven.

Another Gateshead debutant Nick Youngquest scored a try on 25 minutes but three minutes later Rudd went over by the posts to square-up the game.

Loose forward Kris Kahler became the third debutant to score for Gateshead on 39 minutes but Whitehaven were able to go into the break on terms when Rob Jackson equalised right on the hooter.

Scott McAvoy got Whitehaven into the lead again a minute after the restart when an angled run took him through to the line but Thunder were soon back on terms when Youngquest began a move, linked with Andrew Henderson, and then finished it off with his second try.

Thunder went back in front on 50 minutes when Ben McAlpine got on the end of Luke Branighan’s deep cross field kick.

Then came McNally’s two quick-fire tries to give Whitehaven the edge and Franze’s late score only became a statistical note before the hooter signalled a Whitehaven League double.

MAL WALKER was our man at the International Stadium to record the Whitehaven tries - three of them above - from the top: Scott McAvoy, Carl Rudd and Craig Calvert.

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