WHITEHAVEN came through a tough encounter with flying colours but the game against London Skolars was played in testing conditions.

“That has to be one of the warmest games I’ve been involved with it being 32-33 degrees, it was pretty tough,” said assistant coach Jonty Gorley.

“We’d talked about getting a win all week because we’ve come here on the back of two losses so there was a massive effort to concentrate in the early sets.

“We got a couple of repeats early on and in the first six or seven sets London only touched the ball for one, which took energy out of the opposition, so the boys did well.

“Our kicking game was also pleasing from the half backs because we haven’t been our best at the last tackle option. And especially on a day like this. We found touch when we needed, and a couple of our tactical kicks found tries as well. But that was down to Callum and Sam so that was an improvement.”

Regarding the performance of skipper Marc Shackley, added: “I told Shacks he wouldn’t be doing many minutes today, but Shacks always holds his hands up and we are a better side when he is on the pitch.”

Reiterating the importance of turning over a promotion rival, Gorley added: “That’s what we talked about all week. No disrespect to Newcastle and North Wales but we gave those games away. We realised that so had to bring our ‘A’ game today and did what we wanted to do.

“London is a good side, they never go away. They are a big side and on days like today when it’s as hot as it was, you have to be on your ‘A’ game. I was very impressed with all the lads today.”

Looking ahead, Gorley said, “It’s about consistency.

“If we can play like that week in and week out, then it’s all about what we do.”