YoNewcastle Thunder made it back-to-back victories in the Betfred Championship as they fought from 16-24 down to beat Whitehaven 40-24.
Thunder crossed for 24 unanswered points in the second half after going into the break trailing by six points.
The hosts went over for nine tries in total with Sam Halsall being the star of the show notching a hat-trick while winger Gideon Boafo went over for a double.
Ryan King, Tom Wilkinson, Alex Bishop and Callum Phillips were Whitehaven’s first half try-scorers.
The Cumbrian outfit raced into a 12-0 lead after ten minutes before Newcastle scored four tries inside 14 minutes, including two of Halsall’s efforts.
Whitehaven hit back twice in the final five minutes of the first half to lead 16-24 at the break.
However, a dominant second half performance saw Thunder run in five more tries and seal a convincing 40-24 victory.
Newcastle Thunder: Mullen, Boafo, Foster, Halsall, Johnson; Bailey, Woods; T. Chapelhow, Eaves, Moran, Nicholson, Gallagher, Hallas.
Interchanges: Clark, Sutton, Peachey, O’Neill.
Whitehaven: Doyle, Eccleston, Evans, Dixon, Martin; Bishop, Williams; McAvoy, Phillips, Dawson, King, Holliday, Wilkinson.
Interchanges: Aiye, Bradley, Taylor, Walker.
Referee: C. Worsley
Betfred Championship Results:
Saturday 19 February
- Newcastle Thunder 40 Whitehaven 24
Betfred Championship Fixtures:
Saturday 19 February
- Featherstone Rovers v London Broncos - 5pm
Sunday 20 February
- Workington Town v Halifax Panthers - 2pm
- York City Knights v Leigh Centurions - 3pm
Monday 21 February
- Dewsbury Rams v Widnes Vikings - 7:45pm - Live on Premier Sports
