Kingstone Press Championship preview: Whitehaven v Hunslet Hawks

Correspondent

Whitehaven were beaten 46-16 by Leigh Centurions last week.

“The performance was pretty good for long periods but there was a sin binning and during that period of 10 minutes the game went away from us, it’s as simple as that,” coach James Coyle said.

“Hunslet is a game we can win, we need to perform well.”

Loose forward Tyla Hepi could be out for between four to six weeks with a strained knee ligament.

Despite Hunslet Hawks losing 54-10 to Sheffield Eagles last week, coach Barry Eaton saw much to be positive about in the performance.

“To those who just see the result, we got beat heavily but I thought we were outstanding at times and certainly in the first half we were as good as we’ve been all season,” he said.

“The reason for the score line is probably down to just a few individual lapses. As a group and a team we were very, very good in the second half, we got exploited when an individual didn’t do his job.”

On the challenge of Whitehaven he said: “We’re looking forward to it, James Coyle is cutting his teeth as a coach, he was always going to be going down that route and he’s doing a good job up there.

“It’s going to be a long trip but one that we’ll prepare for and it will be a tough game as well. I don’t think there’s a tougher away ground to go to try and get two points than Whitehaven. It has to be a fantastic effort to go up there and get a win but it’s one that we’re capable of getting.”

There is a doubt over wing Vinny Finnigan who has a hamstring problem.