Whitehaven’s next opponents London Broncos are being asked to demonstrate their “bounce-back ability.”

James Coyle’s men travel to the capital at the weekend to face a Broncos side turned over 42-18 at Featherstone on Sunday.

And just as Coyle criticised his team’s performance in a 36-16 home defeat by Dewsbury, so London’s Andrew Henderson has made a strong point to his players.

Acknowledging his side were far from the better of the two on the day, head coach Henderson said Featherstone deserved their win.

“We deserved what we got. I thought Fev were hungry and determined and they beat us in every department.

“What that highlights is that we need everyone – and that’s 1 to 17 – to be delivering their standards. I felt too many of us were off and not where we needed to be.

“Some will argue that the weekend off has possibly disrupted our momentum, and maybe it has in the short term – but it’s a long season, and we’ll see the benefits in the long term.

“The focus this week is about our bounce-back ability.

“We’ve been here before this year, and responded in the right way. I have every confidence that the team will do that again this week.”

That bounce-back ability is tested by Whitehaven, who only have Workington Town below them in the Championship table.

Coyle had similar issues with Haven after the Dewsbury game in which he pointed to the lack of intensity.

“We were very poor, with nobody else to blame but ourselves. You can have the best system in the world with the best players in the world but if they turn-up and don’t want to play then you are going to get nothing out of the game,” he said.

Whitehaven’s problems won’t be helped by a growing injury list – highlighted on Saturday night when winger Jordan Burns was on the bench but was never going to come on.