Round 12
Bradford Bulls 54 d. Les Catalans Dragons 6

2006 English Super League Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: United Kingdom > National > First Grade Competition: English Super League

Bulls romp to ten try victory
Sun April 30, 2006
Source: www.bradfordbulls.co.uk

Bradford inflicted a fourth straight defeat on Les Catalans and gave new coach Steve McNamara his first win in charge, running in 10 tries in a 54-6 romp at Odsal.

The Bulls lost to bogey-team Warrington in McNamara's first game after taking over from Brian Noble, but the Dragons proved a far easier proposition.

The visitors turned the ball over twice in the first two minutes and that set the tone for a miserable display - probably their worst since they joined the competition.

The champions were far from their best but had no trouble seeing off a side almost totally bereft of the ambition in attack that has lit up their first season in Super League.

Bradford's first try after five minutes was laughable - a forward pass from Michael Withers collected on the right wing by Marcus Bai for an easy strot-in. The linesman was level with the play but declined to flag.

The Bulls should have had a second try on 11 minutes, Jamie Langley making a break and offloading an inside pass to Lesley Vainikolo, only for the big winger to knock-on.

But Vainikolo redeemed himself on 18 minutes, flicking back a clever pass from Iestyn Harris' high bomb into the arms of his New Zealand colleague Shontayne Hape to score.

The other winger Marcus Bai then turned provider, collecting a Harris grubber kick on the right and passing inside for Ben Harris to streak clear and score.

The rest of the half belonged to Stanley Gene. The veteran Papua New Guinea international started at scrum-half in place of the injured Paul Deacon and proved his worth with two contrasting tries late in the half.

The first was all about strength from close range as he burst through a gap and held off two defenders to score. Two minutes later he arrived on to a brilliant offload from Hape to outsprint the Dragons defence 30 metres into the corner.

Bradford could be satisfied with a 26-0 half-time lead, but after completing just four of 13 sets, the Dragons were enduring a torrid night, mostly of their own making.

Another Ctalans handling error in front of their own sticks gifted Ben Harris his second try of the night - and seventh of the season - early in the second half.

The Dragons proved equally inept in attack moments later as Bruno Verges knocked-on in the act of touching down a Beattie grubber-kick in the corner.

A 60-metre break from Lesley Vainikolo set up the position for Brett Ferres to power over from Iestyn Harris' long cut-out pass.

On the hour mark Hape sent prop Andy Lynch over for his fourth try of the season - his third against Les Catalans following his brace in the 50-18 win in Perpignan.

The Dragons finally got on the board after 65 minutes, keeping the ball alive in front of the Bradford line before Gregorie Mounis offloaded skillfully on the inside for Sean Rudder to crash over from close range.

Had they showed similar ambition from the outset, the scoreline would surely have been closer, but it was Bradford who still had the last word as Gene grabbed a deserved hat-trick on 70 minutes, reaching over through a forest of legs to place the ball on the line from dummy half.

There was worse to come, as Vainikolo held off four tacklers to score the Bulls' 10th try on the hooter.

Report source: www.bradfordbulls.co.uk

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