Round 7
Castleford Tigers 28 d. Bradford Bulls 26

2009 engage English Super League Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

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

Castleford come back to defeat Bradford
Tue March 31, 2009
Source: www.superleague.co.uk

Castleford Tigers' flying start to the engage Super League season continued as they edged a thrilling encounter 28-26 against Bradford Bulls at The Jungle.

At one point the home side were 16 points behind with 13 minutes remaining and looking all but beaten.

But the Tigers sparked into life and three tries in eight minutes gave Castleford their first win over Bradford since September 2003.

The crucial score came two minutes from time when Rangi Chase crossed for the hosts' fifth try of the day and Kirk Dixon converted to seal the win.

Tigers boss Terry Matterson included young prop Nathan Massey in his squad in place of the injured Liam Higgins, while Ryan Clayton remained sidelined after undergoing shoulder reconstruction.

And there were no changes to the Bradford side that won in Perpignan last week after Matt Cook failed to recover from a virus in time.

An early handling error from the visitors handed the Tigers a good chance to test the Bulls defence.

The home forwards drove the ball upfield and when Bradford were penalised for lying on in the tackle, winger Kirk Dixon was given the opportunity to put points on the board but sent the resulting penalty wide of the posts.

The first try came in the 15th minute when full-back Michael Platt crossed for the Bulls.

The running of Semi Tadulala allowed Chris Nero to dummy his way through a gaping hole in the Castleford defence and find Platt on the inside. Paul Deacon made no mistake in adding the extras from out wide.

Castleford responded three minutes later with Michael Shenton jinking his way over.

A poor pass across the midfield confused the Bradford defence and Brett Ferres did well to scoop the ball up and find Shenton with a long pass.

Still with work to do the Tigers centre stepped inside and beat several defenders on his way to the line.

Bradford regained the lead when after driving the ball to within metres of the try line they worked the ball out wide.

Again Nero was the creator with a long pass which left Tadulala the simple task of crashing over.

And they opened up a 10-point lead in the 28th minute when Andy Lynch piled over - hitting the posts in the process - after Platt cleverly slipped him the ball.

Great handling by the Tigers backs resulted in a score just before the break by Dixon, who failed with the conversion to leave the scores 16-10 in Bradford's favour at the interval.

Just 90 seconds after the restart the Bulls touched down. Strong running from loose forward Jamie Langley left the Tigers defence exposed and with just one defender to beat he sent Glenn Morrison over.

Sykes missed the conversion but hit a penalty moments later.

Dave Halley added a further score when Deacon orchestrated a simple move where the Bulls worked the ball from one side of the pitch to the other and then back - allowing Halley to saunter over from close range.

Castleford finally added some second-half points in the 67th minute when some fine running from Dean Widders allowed Dixon to cross.

And then two minutes later they scored again after centre Ryan McGoldrick collected a grubber kick through and unselfishly passed to Shenton who touched down.

The comeback was complete when Chase crossed to level the tie and Dixon converted to spark jubilant scenes.


Bulls Eye: Bradford v Castleford
Sat March 28, 2009
Source: www.bradfordbulls.co.uk

Bradford Head Coach Steve McNamara looks ahead to Sunday's engage Super League Round 7 clash at the Jungle when the Bulls take on the Castleford Tigers.




STEVE McNAMARA
WHAT DIFFERENCE HAS THE WIN IN FRANCE MADE TO THE SQUAD?
No difference at all really. I said all along that although we were getting beaten people were working very hard and that's just continued this week. I am not going to back track and say anything different because it was simply the case. It was a very dramatic finish to the game and everyone was very excited on the night as to how we had got the victory but after that everyone was pretty much the same as they had been for the previous weeks.

We certainly didn't play as well as we would have liked to have done. We played very well in the early period of the game and then we came up with too many penalties and errors again but as always, whether you get a win or you lose, there are things to asses and readdress. We were happy with some of the things we did and not so happy with others and that is a continuing process.

Without a doubt what stuck out like a sore thumb was the determination not to lose the game and to come away from France with the two points. We found ourselves in some tricky situations from when there was nine minutes on the clock until there were just thirty seconds left and they had to try and negotiate their way through some minefields and come out the other side and all credit to them for doing that.

CASTLEFORD LOOK A DIFFERENT SIDE TO WHAT THEY WERE LAST YEAR?
Without a doubt they do. They are playing with some confidence and to go to Hull and win, like they did last week, was tremendous for them. There won't be too many teams that will achieve that this year.

I think Terry Matterson said that he wanted them to defend a whole lot better this year and they are certainly doing that but the attacking play they put together can burn you if you stand back and let them play. Then there is the threat they pose right across the park, so although it's very early in the season, the signs for Castleford are very good. They made steady progress all the way through last season and obviously they have continued that right through pre season this year and into the games.

CASTLEFORD PLAY A VERY EXPANSIVE GAME AND THEIR COACH AS SAID HE IS NOT PLANNING TO ALTER THAT. DO YOU HAVE SPECIAL PLANS FOR DIFFERENT TEAMS?
Well we do have game plans for each game but really I think all sides would like to give a few less penalties away and make a few less errors but in terms of what we have in our group we are very confident that we can go to any ground and get a victory.

SQUAD
Bulls Coach Steve McNamara has named the same 19 man squad as last week. Matt Cook is ready to play again after overcoming a virus but David Solomona is not yet fit to return and long term knee injury victim Tame Tupou is also not available.

The Squad is:

Matt Cook, Jamie Langley, Rikki Sheriffe, Sam Burgess, Paul Sykes, Nick Scruton, Steve Menzies, Terry Newton, Jason Crookes, Paul Deacon, Dave Halley, Glenn Morrison, Andy Lynch, Craig Kopczak, Ben Jeffries, Semi Tadulala, Michael Worrincy, Michael Platt, Chris Nero

MILESTONES
PAUL DEACON, who has kicked 14 goals from 18 attempts this season for a percentage of 77.78%, needs 5 points for a career total of 2500 points. He has scored 78 tries, kicked 1080 goals, 23 drop goals for a total of 2495 points in his 334 games.

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