Challenge Cup: Whitehaven 4-46 St Helens - Saints overcome spirited Championship side

Kyle Amor could not hide his delight as he scored at the club where he began his career in 2009

Challenge Cup holders St Helens overcame a spirited Whitehaven to progress to the quarter-finals.

Whitehaven - who suffered two early injuries - started excellently, but Joe Batchelor finally broke their resolve after 20 minutes and Curtis Sironen and Kyle Amor went over before the break.

Karl Dixon scored for Whitehaven early in the second half but Dan Norman got Saints' fourth soon after.

Saints' Lewis Dodd, Mark Percival, Joey Lussick and James Roby all added tries.

Whitehaven opened with four consecutive sets of possession deep in Saints territory, but they could not break through and had Liam Cooper stretchered off after eight minutes with a neck injury that needed lengthy treatment.

Tom Wilkinson was forced off with a shoulder injury a minute later, but Whitehaven continued to pressure Saints into mistakes in the opening quarter before Batchelor finally breached the Championship side's defence.

Amor was delighted with his try just before the break against the club where he began his career, while Dixon got a deserved score for Whitehaven as he capped a nice move from right to left in the corner.

But the Cumbrian side began to tire with only two replacements available and Saints carved them open as Norman and Dodd scored within a minute of one another.

Percival took advantage of a fumble for the sixth try before Regan Grace - making his first appearance of the season after injury - came off with eight minutes left having removed one of his boots.

Whitehaven's Dave Eccleston dropped the ball with a chance to go over in the corner in the final minute before Dodds superbly knocked back a kick from the in-goal area for Roby to dot down in stoppage time.

Whitehaven: Doyle, Eccleston, Evans, Holliday, Bulman, Dixon, Williams, McAvoy, Bishop, Graham, King, Cooper, Wilkinson.

Interchanges: Phillips, Walker, Aiye, Bradley.

St Helens: Welsby, Grace, Hurrell, Percival, Makinson, Lomax, Dodd, Pa'asi, Lussick, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Batchelor, Sironen, Wingfield.

Interchanges: Roby, Amor, Norman, Royle.

Referee: T. Grant.