Round 11
St Helens 30 l. Bradford Bulls 34

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

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

Saints stunned by Bulls sensational start and finish
Sat April 25, 2009
Source: www.superleague.co.uk

Bradford Bulls started and finished an extraordinary match in sensational fashion to inflict a shock defeat on engage Super League leaders St Helens.

The Bulls turned the formbook on its head to bounce back from the humiliation of a 58-22 home defeat by Warrington Wolves and gain only their third win of the season and their first at Knowsley Road for four years.

Bradford threatened such an unlikely result in a storming opening but, when St Helens produced a 12-minute purple patch just before half-time to open up a 26-10 lead, they looked to have blown it.

However, Steve McNamara's men demonstrated exceptional resolve to score three further tries in a pulsating final quarter to claim a famous victory.

Saints remain four points clear, after champions Leeds suffered a third defeat in four matches, but this result will blow the title race wide open.

Left winger Semi Tadulala scored two tries in the first 10 minutes and the Bulls had two other tries disallowed by the video referee as they made a mockery of their recent results to race into a 10-0 lead against an out-of-sorts Saints side.

St Helens looked anything but champions-elect in the first quarter as an enthusiastic Bradford harried them into a series of uncharacteristic errors.

Their lack of co-ordination was amply illustrated when they lost 50 metres while trying to keep the ball alive on the last tackle.

With morale at a low ebb, Bradford got the confidence the boost they sorely needed and they took full advantage.

The ever-dangerous David Solomona produced a telling kick for Tadulala to grab his first try after just two minutes and then combined with centre Michael Platt to get the Fijiian over for a second, with Paul Sykes adding one conversion.

The small Bradford following could hardly believe their eyes and it could have been even better had video referee Ian Smith not ruled out further scores by Sam Burgess and Steve Menzies following high kicks from scrum-half Ben Jeffries.

But the loss of Solomona with another shoulder injury just three games back from a dislocation, clearly affected Bradford, who also sent on new signing Julien Rinaldi for his debut on 25 minutes.

After being unable to do little right for the first 25 minutes, Saints suddenly put their game together in bewildering fashion.

Smart passing from Leon Pryce, Paul Wellens and Lee Gilmour enabled right winger Ade Gardner to get the scoreboard ticking over and left winger Francis Meli produced a strong finish at the other corner just two minutes later.

Sean Long failed with both conversion attempts but Saints went in front on 30 minutes when former Bradford favourite Pryce twisted and turned in the tackle to touch down near the posts for his 10th try of the season.

It was all one-way traffic now and Bradford were powerless to prevent substitute Gary Wheeler finishing off another sparkling handling move before James Roby broke clear to create a second try for Meli.

Bradford were able to re-group at half-time and a couple of errors from the home side enabled them to set up camp inside the St Helens half.

And the Yorkshiremen got back in the game when substitute prop Craig Kopczak crashed over from close range on 49 minutes to score his first-ever try for the club on his 34th appearance.

Sykes' second goal cut the gap to 10 points but normal service looked to have been resumed when Saints ran the ball on the last tackle and Long raced onto Wheeler's speculative kick to touch down and make it 30-16.

However, that was the signal for the Bulls to launch their tremendous fightback with three tries in eight minutes, two of them from substitute Michael Worrincy, to regain the lead.

First Burgess stretched out of an uncompleted tackle to touch down, then Worrincy finished off a break by Tadulala before pouncing on another high kick from Jeffries.

Sykes took his goal tally to five from six attempts and the Bulls withstand a late rally to hold onto their precious lead and see out a landmark win.


Bulls Eye: Bradford v St Helens
Thu April 23, 2009
Source: www.bradfordbulls.co.uk

Bradford Coach Steve McNamara looks ahead to Friday's engage Super League Round 11 clash at the GWP Recruitment Stadium when the Bulls travel to take on competition leaders St Helens.



STEVE McNAMARA
WHAT SORT OF WEEK HAS IT BEEN THIS WEEK?
It's been a very difficult week on the back of being embarrassed last week against Warrington and we certainly aim to bounce back this week. The Coaching staff and the Players are very determined to make sure we put in a vastly improved performance. Seven days previously we had put in a very good performance to beat Leeds. It was a 10-6 game; a very low score and a game with some great defence in it and then for that to happen seven days later means there has to be some reasons for it.

The Squad are very capable of bouncing back from that defeat last week. We haven't had the luxury of being able to make a lot of changes and freshen people up or leave people out who are not playing very well at this time but I'd like to judge us more on the Leeds performance rather than what we did against Warrington. We can't wash that away; it's there in the history books and like I said it was very humiliating but what we can do is make sure we are better prepared this week in terms of having a longer turn around period and being a lot fresher and make sure we come out with all guns blazing.

The players have lifted themselves really. As much as supporters and Coaches get disappointed there is no one more disappointed than the players. I had no need to instil into them what my feelings were - although I did - because they were as disappointed as anyone else in Bradford.

YOU HAVE MANAGED TO BRING IN JULIEN RINALDI?
We have Wayne Godwin and Paul Deacon out at the moment and Terry Newton has had to run around for practically the whole eighty minutes over the past few weeks so it's not been ideal. He has done a great job but it has certainly taken its toll on everybody - the lack of players due to injury - and Julien fits the bill in what we were looking for.

He will add some flair, some speed, some freshness and he knows Super League inside out. He has played in the comp for a number of years and he speaks very good English as well. He will give us some much needed cover and speed around the ruck. He has trained with us and he will certainly be in the side on Friday.

IT'S A TOUGH ASK TO GO TO ST HELENS?
It is at the minute. They are currently in impressive form and setting the benchmark for the rest of the competition. Their side is packed with outstanding players and they are playing very well as a unit. It will be an opportunity for us to challenge ourselves against the best side in the competition on the back of our disappointment last week. We aren't really bothered who we play this week; our aim is to get back out there and play well. We expect to go there and perform very well and if we do then we are in with a chance of winning the game. We have prepared very well and we have a plan which suits the personnel we have got. We have just got to go out there and implement it on Friday at 8.00pm.

SQUAD
McNamara has named new signing Julien Rinaldi in the squad. He replaces the injured Kieran Hyde in the only change from last week. The Squad, which will be Captained by Andy Lynch, is:

Matt Cook, Jamie Langley, Rikki Sheriffe, Sam Burgess, Paul Sykes, Nick Scruton, Steve Menzies, Terry Newton, Julian Rinaldi, Elliott Whitehead, Dave Halley, Tom Olbison, Andy Lynch, Craig Kopczak, Ben Jeffries, Semi Tadulala, Michael Worrincy, Michael Platt, Chris Nero.

MILESTONES
PAUL DEACON has kicked 21 goals from 29 attempts this season for a percentage of 72.41%.

PAUL SYKES needs 2 points for a career total of 900. He has scored 72 tries, 303 goals and four drop goals in his 195 appearances for Bradford Bulls, Harlequins (London Broncos), Gt. Britain, England and England 'A'.

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