Whitehaven hooker Thomas Coyle insists that the signing of Owain Griffiths before the start of the Super 8s brought in the competition for places he needed after starring in Sunday’s win over Dewsbury Rams.

Coyle put in a man-of-the-match performance on his return to the side in the 42-30 win over the Rams after missing the win against London Broncos the week before.

With Coyle, Griffiths and James Newton now vying for a spot in the Haven side, Coyle admits that the pressure to perform was needed.

“James [Coyle, head coach] said in training that I’d be put back in the side for the Dewsbury game,” Coyle said.

“There was a bit of pressure on me because Owain played so well from the bench last week.

“It’s probably what we needed, to be honest. It’s always good having competition.

“If you’ve got someone at your heels you have to earn your place in the starting line-up.

“We’d not had that all year because only me and Newts can play there and you’ll get picked to play that role if you’re fit.”

Speaking about his involvement in Sunday’s win over Dewsbury, in which he set up two tries from line-breaks, Coyle believes there is still more to come from the team in their final four Super 8s games.

“We won but we didn’t play to our full potential,” he admitted.

“We were a bit scratchy in good field positions and weren’t executing. When we do execute you can see for yourself what happens.

“We just kept playing the numbers and we’ve been told in training to play what you see in front of you.

“We were a bit flat at the start of the game but once we got over the first 15 minutes and scored our first try we were able to get going.”