Archive
Sun, 18 May 2008
Castleford Tigers V Bradford Bulls
Bradford Bulls: Michael Platt, James Evans, Paul Sykes, Chris Nero, Semi Tadulala, Ben Jeffries, Paul Deacon, Andy Lynch, Terry Newton, Sam Burgess, David Solomona, Jamie Langley, Glenn Morrison
Subs: Tame Tupou, Iestyn Harris, Craig Kopczak, Simon Finnigan
Tries: Michael Platt, Paul Sykes, Ben Jeffries, Terry Newton, Sam Burgess, Jamie Langley, Simon Finnigan, Glenn Morrison
Goals: Paul Deacon(7)
Castleford Tigers: Donlan, Fletcher, Shenton, Dixon, Wainwright, McGoldrick, Dorn, Higgins, Moore, Huby, Guttenbeil, Catic, Westerman.
Subs: Korkidas, Henderson, Hlad, Owen.
Tries: Shenton, Wainwright, McGoldrick, Dorn, Westerman. Goals: Dorn (1 from 4), Westerman (1 from 1)
REPORT
Bradford Bulls ran out clear winners in an engage Super League match which was closer than the score suggests.
The home side led 10-0 early on at the Jungle but four Bulls tries in the final eight minutes of the first half put the visitors in command.
And when Michael Platt, Ben Jeffries and Simon Finnigan all added efforts in the second half, the struggling Castleford Tigers never looked like coming back.
The home side opened the scoring as early as the third minute when 18-year-old teen sensation Joe Westerman broke the Bulls ranks and sent centre Michael Shenton over in the corner but Kirk Dixon missed the conversion.
Michael Wainwright had two tries disallowed, one of which saw the winger sprint the length of the field only to be called back by the match official.
But they did increase their lead in the 18th minute when full-back Ryan McGoldrick managed to get on the end of a clever grubber kick from Luke Dorn, with Dixon adding the two points.
Bradford responded when Jeffries, who was picked ahead of Iestyn Harris, cut the home defence open before sending Paul Sykes over to reduce the deficit. The usually reliable Paul Deacon missed what looked a simple conversion.
Jeffries almost had a try of his own shortly after but David Solomona’s pass which released the stand-off was adjudged to have been forward.
Bradford pulled level in the 26th minute when incisive running and a cleverly timed pass from loose forward Sam Burgess gave Terry Newton the opportunity to score and he duly obliged with Deacon converting.
But Tigers put themselves back ahead on the half-hour mark with a moment of sheer brilliance from Westerman.
Dorn threw a long pass to the youngster, who dummeyed his way through a hole in Bradford’s defence and sprinted home from distance - Dixon failed to convert.
Burgess piled over before the break with Deacon kicking the visitors into the lead in the 34th minute.
Second row Glenn Morrison helped himself to his sixth try of the season two minutes later following an intelligent kick from Jeffries and Jamie Langley added another with Deacon converting both.
The hosts put themselves back in the game in the 52nd minute after centre James Evans was sent to the sin bin for persistent offending.
Tigers threw the ball wide with Dorn and Stuart Donlan combining well in midfield before Wainwright touched down in the corner. Westerman then struck a fine conversion to move the Tigers to within 10 points of Bradford.
However, Bulls put the match beyond doubt with tries from Platt, Jeffries and Tadulala - Deacon converting all of them.
Dorn added a late consolation for Castleford but the engage Super League new-boys remain rooted to the foot of the table.
POST MATCH COMMENTS
Bradford boss Steve McNamara thought his side "scored some pretty spectacular tries" in their 46-24 win over Castleford at The Jungle.
McNamara said: "I thought we scored some pretty spectacular rugby league tries and played some really, really good stuff, but we really hurt ourselves on occasions."
"It was a really mixed bag but I'm really pleased with them for coming to a club like Castleford, that has already taken two major scalps, they were always going to come out all guns firing.
"We came here and got the job done. Of course there are areas for improvement but we are pleased that we have come to a tricky place and got the job done.
McNamara also thought his side started the better even though they fell behind early on and also revealed second row Chris Nero may have broken his collarbone during the clash.
"We started really fast and we looked as though we were going to score on the first set when (Michael) Platt went through."
"We're disappointed we got a man in the sin bin but we came through it okay. Well, we haven't come through it okay because we've got Chris Nero who may have fractured his collarbone.
"We put ourselves under pressure. I thought we were very good defensively but we put ourselves under pressure on other occasions. It was a very up and down erratic sort of game."
Disappointed Castleford head coach Terry Matterson put his side's loss down to their inability to protect a lead and 'dig in'.
He said: "I'm very disappointed because we scored 24 and again we had opportunities to score more tries but we just found ourselves chasing the game and our defence wasn't good enough."
"They had the ball for about 10 minutes in a row in the first half, I think, and when we went 10-0 up they scored a try and we've got to be able to hold them out."
"The first three tries all came off mistakes and all of a sudden you find yourself 16-10 down."
"They're too good a side if you give them too much room the will punish you. They played up the middle and they were too big and strong in the end."
"We were always chasing the game after half-time and pushing passes and we certainly didn't get any better and it all goes back to defence...and it's not technique."
"It's working together and digging in and that's the most disappointing part."