Whitehaven have stepped in at the 11th hour to organise a pre-season friendly against Newcastle Thunder on Sunday night, kick-off 5.45pm.

Thunder were originally scheduled to play Workington on Saturday evening, but Town cancelled the friendly to allow for an extra week's recovery before the start of the Championship season.

Haven were contacted by Thunder who asked if a game could be played instead at The Recreation Ground, but the two clubs will play on the artificial pitch at Newcastle's Kingston Park.

Haven head coach James Coyle said: "It's good for us to have another run out before the season starts.

"They rang asking if we wanted to play them at our place but the pitch wouldn't have been in the best condition with the heavy rain we've had.

"So I made the suggestion of playing at their place on their artificial pitch instead."

Haven and Thunder will kick-off after the Newcastle Falcons' Aviva Premiership fixture against Harlequins.

"Even though a game will have been played before us, because it's an artificial pitch, it'll be in perfect condition.

"It's a dry track and it'll mean we'll have no excuses with how we play.

"It'll give us a real opportunity to look at how we want to play and work through our systems to see where we're at with the season starting the following week."

Thunder head coach Mick Mantelli added: "We decided we needed another game and it's good that we've been able to get this organised.

"The heavy pitch at their place would have been tough on their legs and hopefully the game on Sunday at our ground will be much more of a spectacle.

"We played Widnes a few weeks ago, and we had some academy lads in that side. So this will be a chance to play a few more first-teamers."

Speaking about his side's cancelled game, Workington Town head coach Phil Veivers said: "We've picked up a quite a number of knocks in our two games so far and didn't want to risk any more.

"It's a shame because Ryan Verlinden arrived on Monday and it would have been good for him to have had a hit-out before the season started.

"But he's over here now and is in good nick because he's been training in Australia."

Club director Gary Mounsey said: "We've had two very tough games against local teams and it's done a great job for our preparation.

"As it is a long, hard season the board decided after a chat with Phil to give the lads time to recover and prepare for our first league match against Sheffield."