Round 19
Bradford Bulls 38 l. Castleford Tigers 40

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

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

Tigers hang on as Deacon misses chance to tie game
Mon July 6, 2009
Source: www.superleague.co.uk

Paul Deacon missed a last-gasp conversion as Castleford Tigers edged a topsy-turvy engage Super League encounter 40-38 against Bradford Bulls this afternoon.

Ben Jeffries had crossed with seconds remaining to give the Bulls the chance to claim a draw from an entertaining but scrappy clash at the Grattan Stadium.

Castleford surrendered leads of 12-4 and 34-22 at various stages while the Bulls had been 22-12 in front at half-time.

Both sides scored seven tries but Dean Widders' remarkable 80-metre interception score with seven minutes remaining ultimately proved decisive. Joe Westerman landed six goals for the visitors.

Castleford first went ahead after Semi Tadulala lost a Rangi Chase kick under pressure and Michael Shenton pounced.

Tadulala soon made amends after a Castleford mistake at the restart allowed the Bulls to go straight back on the attack.

Fiji winger Tadulala was on hand to finish in the corner and a good break by Chris Nero moments later almost created a chance for Terry Newton to give the Bulls the lead.

The Tigers responded strongly with a Ryan McGoldrick pass putting Chase over by the posts.

Westerman's second conversion gave the visitors a 12-4 lead but Bradford hit back with three more tries to take a 10-point lead into the break.

Dave Halley claimed the first of them from a Paul Deacon pass after another Tigers error at a restart offered the Bulls a way back into the game.

Newton, linked with a move to Wakefield Wildcats this week, put Nick Scruton over for his first Bulls try and Halley was denied a second when another Newton pass was ruled forward.

Halley showed his defensive qualities to keep out opposing full-back Richard Owen before the Bulls finished the first half with a flourish.

Ben Jeffries found a gap in the Tigers defence and Michael Worrincy completed the attack by outpacing Shenton and Kirk Netherton to the line.

Remarkably, Bradford surrendered their position of dominance by conceding four tries within the opening 13 minutes of the second half.

The first was almost a carbon copy of the opener as Tadulala missed a Chase kick and Shenton this time set up youngster Jordan Thompson.

Tadulala missed a tackle in Castleford's next attack and Shenton cut inside for his second.

A brilliant Halley tackle denied Mike Wainwright but the Tigers were not kept out for long as Chase sold Deacon a dummy to cross for his second.

The capitulation continued as McGoldrick sent Westerman on his way to the line with a clever pass.

The momentum shifted back in Bradford's favour as Deacon set up Burgess and Jeffries went over from a Newton pass to level the scores at 34-34.

Widders put Cas back in front by picking off a Newton pass and sprinting most of the length of the field.

There was still time for one last twist as Halley's break set up Jeffries but Deacon was unable to add the goal.


BullsEye: Bradford v Castleford
Sat July 4, 2009
Source: www.bradfordbulls.co.uk

Bradford Coach Steve McNamara previews Sunday's round 18 Super League clash agaisnt Castleford at Grattan Stadium.


STEVE McNAMARA
YOU HAVE COME VERY CLOSE IN THE LAST TWO GAMES WITHOUT A VICTORY. WHAT EFFECT HAS THAT HAD ON THE SQUAD?
Well we certainly aren't feeling sorry for ourselves. I think in our last four performances, since the second half of the season started, we have played a whole lot better, we have two wins and two losses but even in the games we lost, against arguably the best two teams in the competition, we showed that we can certainly compete. I thought we had opportunities in both games to go on and win them, so to answer the question, I feel we are little bit annoyed we didn't do better in those games.

We are always assessing ourselves whether we perform well or not and we certainly aren't going round patting ourselves on the back because we played well for part of the game. Against Leeds we came back from 16-2 down and they were playing well at that point but we put some things back on them. We are confident we can beat any side in the competition but we haven't proved it on enough occasions this season. It's about putting all the bits together during a game and doing it every week. We have shown in the past four games that we can play well but with ten games left now we need that kind of consistency every week. The players want to improve all the time and they just want to get out there and play again and improve on last week, go a step further this time and make sure we get the 2 points.

THE LAST GAME AGAINST CASTLEFORD WAS A MISSED OPPORTUNITY?
We got ourselves in a commanding position and threw the game away. We conceded three tries in the last ten minutes after being in complete control of the game and that seventy minutes was probably as good as we have played - certainly one of the best we have played - all season. We certainly aim to play well again, to get in front but to kick on with it this time. It's a game we need to win and if you look at out remaining fixtures you will see that we play all the sides around us in the table. We are not in the top eight yet and we have some work to do to get there and we need to start attacking it from now on in.

WHAT ABOUT CASTLEFORD AS A SQUAD. THEY RECRUITED HEAVILY AT THE START OF THE SEASON?
They have a great blend of youth and experience and they have certainly got some speed in their ranks - players like Chase, McGoldrick, Owen and Shenton. They have some players who can break tackles and score points. We are certainly aware of the threats they pose.

SQUAD
Julien Rinaldi has not recovered from the foot injury he received against St Helens but Hooker Wayne Godwin is fit again and takes the place of Elliott Whitehead who will miss the game with a foot injury.

The squad named is:

Paul Sykes, Jamie Langley, Rikki Sheriffe, Sam Burgess, James Donaldson, Nick Scruton, Steve Menzies, Terry Newton, Wayne Godwin, Matt Cook, Dave Halley, Chris Nero, Andy Lynch, Craig Kopczak, Ben Jeffries, Semi Tadulala, Michael Worrincy, Michael Platt, Paul Deacon.

MILESTONES
PAUL DEACON has kicked 50 Goals from 62 attempts this season for a percentage of 80.65%.

PAUL SYKES, who has kicked 15 goals from 23 attempts for a percentage of 65.22, needs 8 points for a total of 150 for the club. He has scored 25 tries and kicked 21 goals in 54 appearances in 2 spells at the Bulls.

TERRY NEWTON needs 6 points for a career total of 450 in British Rugby League. He has scored 111 tries in 385 appearances for the Bulls, Leeds, Bramley, Wigan, Gt. Britain, England and Lancashire.

BEN JEFFRIES needs 4 points for a career total in British Rugby League of 350. He has scored 82 tries and kicked 7 goals and 4 drop goals in 188 appearances for the Bulls and Wakefield Wildcats.

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