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England Knights needed a second-half flourish to get the better of Cumbria in a 26-12 win at Whitehaven.

Zak Hardaker opened the try scoring for the Knights, Luke Gale then added a second after the break before Kyle Amor ran in for Cumbria.

Kris Welham and Liam Watts added to Knights tally, while Brad Singleton scored a late second for Cumbria.

But there was still time for Josh Charnley to cross just before the hooter to round off the win.

Cumbria, who drew 18-18 with England last year, were the pre-match underdogs against a Knights side fielding nine players involved in the final four Super League play-offs.

Cumbria smothered England in their half for much of the opening period, and forced a string of handling errors but were unable to capitalise.

Chris Smith and Liam Campbell were both stopped short of the Knights line, while at the other end Luke Gale's high kick was taken by Cumbria full-back Brett Carter inside his own 10 with England players looming.

It took 27 minutes and a moment of magic for the game's first score.

After a slippery break from Joe Westerman, a fine offload out of the tackle freed Hardaker down the right and he streaked over, although the conversion was missed.

Cumbria looked the more dangerous side before the hooter but failed to punish the Knights for their poor handling.

England made a brighter start to the second half and notched their second try when Gale picked up on a delicious exchange from Richie Myler and Joe Westerman to run in, Charnley this time finding the gap between the posts to add the extras.

The hosts' skipper Amor managed to ground before the ball went dead to add a deserved try, with Darren Holt stepping up to convert.

An error by Chris Smith then allowed Welham to run half the length of the pitch before touching down, before Watts added a fourth try to open up an unassailable lead, Charnley made sure of the conversions.

Singleton got himself on the score sheet to hand Cumbria a second try with five minutes to go, converted by Will Sharp, but there was still time for Charnley to dive over in the right corner on the hooter.

Cumbria: Carter, Larkin, Mossop, Harrison, Sharp, Campbell, Holt, Butler, Smith, Amor, Whitehead, Wilkes, Singleton.

England Knights: Riley; Charnley, Hardaker, Welham, Broughton; Myler, Gale; Mossop, Moore, Clough, Clarkson, Westerman (capt), Farrell.

Referee: James Child.

Attendance: 1,163.