Nikau Williams scores hat-trick as York Knights beat Whitehaven 40-0

The Kiwi playmaker has made over half of his appearances for the Cumbrian outfit but added 22 points to the scoreboard in a Man of the Match performance against his former side.

It took just five minutes for Williams to break the deadlock before he slotted over another two points from a penalty.

Whitehaven, despite their off-field struggles, showed plenty of fight on the pitch to hold their opponents out for the 20 minutes that followed, but the floodgates opened on the half-hour.

Wakefield loanee Joe Law found the whitewash twice inside a blistering three-minute spell before Williams danced his way through some patchy try-line defence to score his second of the afternoon and hand the visitors a 20-0 half-time lead.

York wasted no time in adding to their advantage after the break through Brenden Santi, with Williams then adding a second penalty after Will Jubb had been caught high.

They then sent Jack Martin across before Williams completed his hat-trick, with Jubb adding the final conversion as he became the Knights’ second highest appearance maker.

MATCH RECAP: Whitehaven 0-40 York Knights

Mark Applegarth made one enforced change from the Knights’ victory against Batley last weekend, with Martin replacing the suspended Jordan Thompson at prop. Bailey Antrobus returned to the bench in his place.

Whitehaven were able to name a squad of 17 players – three more than at Dewsbury last week – with Jake Carter, Perry Singleton and Edene Gebbie all returning. Will Evans started in the centres after being the club’s only interchange in West Yorkshire.

Both sides saw out the opening sets with ease, but it took just five minutes for the Knights to break the deadlock.

AJ Towse was afforded both time and space on the right wing as he raced forward 30 metres before unselfishly passing back inside for the supporting Williams to score just to the right of the posts.

Nikau Williams opened the scoring with five minutes played before going on to complete his hat-trick late on. (Image: Craig Hawkhead Photography)

He though could not convert in what became a theme of the opening half.

The visitors looked to go back-to-back from the restart as Ata Hingano and Brad Ward combined on the left edge, but the ball fell loose under pressure.

Ward came close to adding his name to the scoresheet again shortly after, but Whitehaven regrouped in a mammoth effort that saw the winger bundled into touch narrowly short.

York instead added their next points from the tee after a late hit, Williams making no mistake to slot over from 25 metres.

Whitehaven refused to lie down, but though they were gifted a 20-metre restart and then a six-again, Lachlan Hanneghan’s right-wing chip evaded the onrushing Callum Shaw with the tryline gaping.

Instead, their indiscipline opened the door for the Knights to score their second try in the 31st minute, as after Joe Brown had been tackled high, Hingano floated a cross-field kick towards Ward, who beat Shaw before batting the ball back inside for Law to score.

Williams’ conversion was well wide of the left-hand post, and he missed his next attempt just three minutes later.

Having won a goal-line drop-out and then a six-again on the 20-metre line, neat hands saw the ball find Law, who raced forward before selling Curtis Teare a huge dummy as he crashed over on the left edge.

With Whitehaven’s floodgates well and truly open, the Knights’ third try in seven minutes fell to Williams, who, with Hingano’s offload going to ground, reacted quickest, sidestepping a handful of defenders to surge across just to the right of the posts.

The half-back was up quickly to convert, handing the visitors a comfortable 20-0 lead at the break.

Applegarth’s side wasted no time in building upon that after the interval, having been handed field position as the result of a high tackle on the returning Antrobus.

Connor Bailey skipped through a gap, but though he was brought down narrowly short, Santi proved too powerful as he took three defenders with him across next to the posts. Williams again converted.

Whitehaven came back strongly, forcing Brown into conceding a goal-line drop-out, only for Evans to knock-on 15 metres shy of the line as they looked for joy on the right edge.

Opportunities continued to fall the hosts’ way, not least after having been awarded consecutive penalties and then a six-again, but despite Huw Worthington breaking through the defensive line, a grubber from the next tackle was well-fielded by Jacob Gannon.

Two more drop-outs for the hosts followed as Applegarth made his way from the stand to the benches, with York bundling loose forward Worthington into touch as he looked to take the first tackle.

Whitehaven’s resurgence though was halted by a high tackle on Jubb just outside the 10-metre line with 15 minutes remaining, Williams slotting over another two points to extend the visitors’ lead to 28.

Jack Martin celebrated his try with a huge roar to the travelling supporters. (Image: Craig Hawkhead Photography)

That soon grew by another six points, with Martin crashing onto Hingano’s short ball before winning the race to touch down his own grubber and hand Williams the simplest of conversions in front of a vocal travelling support.

Whitehaven, undeterred, looked for a late consolation, with Hanneghan centimetres away from bringing them onto the board with four minutes to play, only for referee Kevin Moore to rule that the Knights’ scramble defence had done just enough to bring him down short.

Instead, it was York who added a final flourish, with Williams diving through a gap in the hosts’ defence from close range to complete a memorable hat-trick.

Jubb marked his own milestone with a simple conversion to round off the scoring after the final hooter.

York remain seventh, two points behind Sheffield Eagles and three adrift of next weekend’s opponents Widnes Vikings.

WHITEHAVEN: Romeo, Shaw, Evans, Teare, Walsh, Ackroyd, Hanneghan, Castle, Newton, Ainley, Corkill, McCarron, Worthington.

INTERCHANGES: Carter, Singleton, King, Gebbie

YORK KNIGHTS: Brown, Towse, Field, Law, Ward, Williams, Hingano, Michael, Jubb, Martin, Bailey, Gannon, Cunningham.

INTERCHANGES: Teanby, Santi, Daley, Antrobus

TRIES: Williams (5, 38, 79), Law (31, 34), Santi (41), Martin (70)

GOALS: Williams 5/8, Jubb 1/1

POINTS SEQUENCE: 0-4, 0-6, 0-10, 0-14, 0-18, 0-20, 0-24, 0-26, 0-28, 0-32, 0-34, 0-38, 0-40

HALF TIME: 0-20

YORK’S STAR MAN: Nikau Williams. The half-back shone against his former side with a hat-trick and five goals, with Whitehaven struggling to contain his influence.

REFEREE: Kevin Moore