Round 7
Bradford Bulls 22 l. Les Catalans Dragons 29

2007 engage English Super League Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

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

Round 7 Super League Summary
Wed March 28, 2007
Round 7 of the engage Super League provided us with plenty more of the unpredictable, thrills and skills that we've come to expect from this season.

There were three games played on Friday evening, the first of which saw Wigan travelling to the KC stadium to take on Hull FC. Hull's miserable season had improved dramatically after a hugely impressive performance last week against St Helens, to claim their first win of the season. It was Wigan, however, who came away with the two points after putting in an equally impressive performance to claim a 20-30 victory. Trent Barrett scored two tries for the Warriors, who moved into the play off positions for the first time this year. Wigan boss, Brian Noble, believes that Barrett is, "Going to be big for us" whilst Hull 's Peter Sharp described his teams performance as, "A pile of rubbish to tell you the truth".

St Helens got their season back on track after a routine victory against the other side of Hull at Knowsley Road. Saints' Captain Paul Sculthorpe scored a try and kicked four goals in his side's 42-14 win. He claimed the Man of the Match award as he continues his recovery from a persistent knee injury. Hull KR were without influential captain James Webster for the clash and coach Justin Morgan, was satisfied with his team's performance saying, "I'm proud of their effort and our attitude was good."

Friday night's other game saw Leeds run out 28-16 victors against Harlequins at Headingly. Harlequin's will think of themselves as unlucky after two of Leeds' tries came from deflections and another from a blatant forward pass. Tony Smith, who signed up to become the new, full time Great Britain coach on Monday, hailed new signing Brent Webb's impact on the game after he scoring two tries.

There were no games on Saturday, due to football and cricket, so Sunday saw three games. League leaders Bradford, were at home to the Catalan Dragons, however they found themselves on the wrong end of a 22-29 defeat. The Dragons came out all guns blazing to establish a 0-10 lead through tries from Casey McGuire and Stacy Jones. The Bulls came back into it, however the Dragon's defence laid the platform for them to claim only their third ever away victory. Catalan's coach Mick Potter said, " I'm very happy" about the result whilst Bradford Coach, Steve McNamara said that his team were, "poor and thoroughly disappointed with our performance."

Huddersfield again failed to claim a point from their home game against struggling Salford as they slumped to a 16-18 defeat. The Giant's seventh straight loss leaves them 5 points adrift, despite only having a 30 point negative point's difference. Luke Robinson scored a brace of tries to help Salford to their only their second victory of the season.

Wakefield coach, John Kear, described his team's 30-24 victory over Warrington as a, "Great advert for Rugby League". Kear was delighted with his team's guts after they recovered from falling 16-24 behind in a thrilling game at Belle Vue. The victory lifts Wakefield into second place on the table and reinforces their status as this years surprise package. Warrington coach, Paul Cullen blamed his side's composure for the loss saying, "there was enough effort and enough skill, but not enough composure."

The Super League takes a break next week to make room for the fourth round of the Challenge Cup.


Catalans upset shell-shocked Bulls
Mon March 26, 2007
Source: www.superleague.co.uk

Jason Croker's drop-goal and a last-minute try from John Wilson snatched Catalans Dragons' first away win of the season over a shell-shocked Bradford Bulls outfit.

Croker coolly added the goal to increase Catalans' lead to 13 points midway through the second half and it proved crucial after late tries from Michael Platt and James Evans ensured a frantic finish.

Wilson touched down in the last act of the game to confirm the win, while Dragons winger Thomas Bosc also grabbed a personal haul of 14 points as the French side, who finished bottom in 2006, collected only their third engage Super League triumph on their travels in their brief history.

The Dragons had quickly silenced Odsal with an industrious defensive display that repelled a series of early Bradford raids.

And the Bulls' frustrations were only increased when Bosc broke clear before re-gathering his own kick to push the visitors ahead.

Steve McNamara's table-toppers looked slow in defence and short of ideas in attack as the first half wore on and they fell further behind when Bosc grabbed his second after good work from David Ferriol and Jason Croker.

But Bosc's double brought Bradford to life and they responded with a five-minute blitz to level the scores by half time.

Iestyn Harris' long pass set Lesley Vainikolo charging clear before he combined with Glenn Morrison to send Paul Deacon over under the posts.

Substitute James Evans then pounced on Deacon's chip when Adam Mogg fumbled his attempted catch, but five minutes into the second half Clint Greenshields raced past Shontayne Hape to restore the Dragons' advantage.

Then Stacey Jones and Casey McGuire sent Ferriol barging through before Bosc added a penalty and Croker's drop-goal handed Catalans a 13-point buffer.

Michael Platt and James Evans both crossed in the closing stages to create a frantic finish but Wilson's try killed Bradford's hopes of a comeback.

Bradford Bulls (10) 22
Tries: Deacon, Evans 2, Platt
Goals: Deacon 3

Catalans Dragons (10) 29
Tries: Bosc 2, Greenshields, Ferriol, Wilson
Goals: Bosc 4
Drop-goals: Croker

Bradford Bulls: Platt, McAvoy, B. Harris, Hape, Vainikolo, I. Harris, Deacon, Vagana, Henderson, Lynch, Solomona, Morrison, Langley.
Replacements: McKenna, Newton, Feather, Evans.

Catalans Dragons: Greenshields, Bosc, Wilson, Mogg, Pelo, McGuire, Jones, Chan, Teixido, Guisset, Gossard, Croker, Mounis.
Replacements: Ferriol, Raguin, Griffi, Quigley.

Referee: I Smith
Attendance: 11,298

Report source: www.superleague.co.uk

Article: Shock victory comes at a cost for Catalans

Fri March 23, 2007
• Bulls Eye: Bradford v Catalans
  

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