Gary Charlton was one of the first coaches to include enthusiasm as a factor in creating a successful team.

During his time as Workington Town coach he was not slow in admitting that his team had been “out-enthused” by the opposition in a defeat.

Coincidentally, that was regularly the case when Town played Doncaster, a side noted for their togetherness and enthusiasm under former coach Tony Miller.

Miller had been involved with the Dons for 23 years as a player, captain, assistant coach (three times) and head coach (twice). The 2012 Championship One Coach of the Year eventually decided to call it a day due to his ongoing work commitments.

It was Whitehaven’s enthusiastic style which laid the platform for Sunday’s excellent 26-8 win over Doncaster at the Recreation Ground.

“It is an important feature of all good rugby teams and I thought we showed a lot of it in beating Doncaster. We definitely out-enthused them,” said Charlton.

Doncaster, meanwhile, have been licking their wounds after a second defeat of the season for them. Assistant coach Pete Green has reflected on the defeat and the need to bounce back in the Coral Challenge Cup, a week on Sunday.

“The conditions were tough, as we knew they would be given the recent weather, and they probably suited Whitehaven more than us.

“But we had a strong side out and we felt confident going into the game and you can’t blame the conditions for how we played.

“We just gave away far too many penalties on the day and our completion rate was below 50 per cent. We looked dangerous when we got down their end but we needed to be more clinical.

“It was a very disappointing result and we’ve got a lot of things to work on before our next game against Featherstone Lions in the Challenge Cup on Sunday week.”

Skipper Ryan Boyle added: “We know they’re a good side but we can’t afford to be dropping points when the league table is so tight.

“Both games we’ve lost this season we’ve shot ourselves in the foot. There are points in the game where things go against us.

“Instead of reacting well we go into panic mode, and come up with errors rather than sticking to what we’re good at with the ball.”

Haven are level on points with Doncaster, but have played a game less, and could well go top on Sunday – albeit for a few hours.

They are the first into action against West Wales Raiders at 11am and a good win would put them above Hunslet on points differential, but will be joined by at last two other sides by 5pm. Hunslet would stay clear at the top if they beat Coventry Bears.