Round 18
Bradford Bulls 36 d. Hull FC 22

2008 engage English Super League Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

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

Bradford back in Super League top six
Mon June 23, 2008
Source: www.superleague.co.uk

Bradford Bulls rediscovered their scoring touch with a 36-22 win over Hull FC to halt their run of four successive defeats and climb back into the top six of engage Super League.

Powerful winger Semi Tadulala typified the Bulls' superior strength by scoring two of his side's seven tries against a depleted Hull side to help avenge their shock Carnegie Challenge Cup defeat earlier this month.

Hull centre Kirk Yeaman also touched down twice to press his England claims as the visitors, who were without 10 members of their first-team squad, rallied superbly after trailing 16-0 after 14 minutes.

Bradford were boosted by the return of forwards Andy Lynch, Terry Newton and Sam Burgess and they made the perfect start with three early tries in blustery conditions.

They took full advantage of a slipshod opening by Hull, with prop forwards Garreth Carvell and Ewan Dowes both coming up with handling errors inside their own half.

Lynch took Newton's short pass to crash over for the first of three tries in a 12-minute spell.

Centre Paul Sykes jinked his way over and long passes by David Solomona and Newton exposed holes in Hull's right-sided defence and enabled Tadulala and Shontayne Hape to touch down.

Hull, who gave a debut to 19-year-old centre Jodie Broughton, failed to make full use of the stiff breeze at their backs but hooker Danny Houghton took advantage of a slip on the greasy turf by full-back Michael Platt to score a try and Yeaman added another just before half-time.

The visitors had chances to get even closer, with Yeaman failing to deliver the final pass to Tom Briscoe when in the clear and then, in a separate move, putting a foot in touch just before he crossed the line.

Bradford made the most of the escapes by scoring two further tries in four minutes to ease into a comfortable 30-12 lead.

Tadulala took Hape's pass to finish strongly for his second try and, in the best move of the match, Platt took Ben Jeffries' pass to race into a gap and send the supporting Newton over for the Bulls' six try.

Hull continued to play with plenty of spirit and enterprise and they were rewarded on 65 minutes when second-rower Willie Manu finished off a superb 50-metre move with a try.

Yeaman then grabbed his second after intercepting substitute Craig Kopczak's pass and Danny Tickle's third goal cut the deficit to eight points.

But impressive substitute Matt Cook put an end to the comeback when he forced his way over from close range four minutes from the end and Iestyn Harris kicked his fourth conversion.

Report Source: www.superleague.co.uk

Article: Result crucial for McNamara


Bulls Eye: Bradford v Hull FC
Sat June 21, 2008
Source: www.bradfordbulls.co.uk

In this week's Bulls Eye, Bradford Coach Steve McNamara looks ahead to Sunday's engage Super League Round 18 clash at the Grattan Stadium when the Bulls take on Hull FC.

STEVE McNAMARA
DOES THE CHALLENGE CUP DEFEAT STILL RANKLE WITH YOU?
We were hugely disappointed with the defeat in the cup. It was a big blow to us but hopefully we can start to get back on the right track against them this week. Hopefully it will be a drier track because the Challenge Cup game was a damp horrible day and it didn't have the best feel about the place. Hopefully it will be a dry day and we can get the sun out and play some open Rugby League.

They picked up a good result against us and had a good win over Castleford last week so they will be reasonably confident within themselves and what they aim to do but I am more concerned about ourselves. We need to go out and play well and make sure we have things in place and that the players are prepared properly and confident in what we want to do and if we do that it will take care of itself.

HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT GETTING THROUGH TO THE PLAYERS THE IMPORTANCE OF GETTING BACK TO WINNING WAYS?
The players are pretty good and relaxed with everything. They understand that we need to start turning some performances into results and start to get back into the Top Six and push even further into it. There are ten games left and there is a lot of time to go yet but we understand that with back to back home games we need to play well in front of our supporters and turn those performances into good results.

We owe our supporters and ourselves a good performance. We are all disappointed that over the past few weeks we have not been able to pick some victories up and our expectations are as high as anyone's. We are as disappointed, if not more so, than anyone when things don't go our way. The fans are a big part of this club and they deserve a little bit more success than we have given them over the past few weeks.

DO YOU CHANGE THINGS AT A TIME LIKE THIS, IN TRAINING OR THE GAME PLAN, OR DO YOU STICK TO WHAT HAS WORKED BEFORE?
Well you always change things slightly week to week because you can have a five, a seven, or a nine day turnaround and that makes what you do different virtually all the time. It also depends on what the opposition is. Sometimes you change the days you train and others you try and keep some normality in it. That is all part of Coaching week in and week and you make decisions based on what's right and not because of the position you are in. You don't go crazy just because you have lost a few just like you don't go overboard if you get some wins. You trust your judgement on what your planning is and we certainly do that here.

SQUAD
Andy Lynch, Sam Burgess and Terry Newton all return to the Bulls Squad, which is lacking Tame Tupou, knee and Paul Deacon, hamstring.

The 19 man Squad is: Sam Burgess, Paul Sykes, Matt James, Chris Feather, James Evans, Dave Halley, Michael Platt, Shontayne Hape, Iestyn Harris, Ben Jeffries, Semi Tadulala, Simon Finnigan, Andy Lynch, Matt Cook, David Solomona, Terry Newton, Joe Vagana, Craig Kopczak, Jamie Langley.

MILESTONES
PAUL DEACON, who has kicked 66 goals from 78 attempts this season for an average of 84.62%, passed a career total of 2,400 points in the game at Castleford. He also needs only four points for a Super League career total of 2,000 (not including play-offs).

His 1,996 points have come from 64 tries and 879 goals, including 18 drop goals, in 254 rounds of Super League. All the points were scored for Bradford, but he also made two substitute appearances for Oldham without scoring.

Only Andrew Farrell has scored more Super League points than Deacon, with a record 2,228 for Wigan Warriors from 1996 to 2004.

IESTYN HARRIS needs 1 try for a career total of 150. He has scored 149 Tries for Warrington, Leeds, Bradford, Gt. Britain, Wales and Gt. Britain Under 21's.

WAYNE GODWIN needs 8 points for a career total of 300. The Hooker has scored 33 tries and kicked 80 goals in his 155 appearances.

News Source: www.bradfordbulls.co.uk

Fri June 20, 2008
• Agar looking for consistency from Hull FC
  

Advanced Search