Archive
Fri, 03 May 2002
Castleford Tigers 8
Bradford Bulls 32
Bradford Bulls: Leon Pryce, Tevita Vaikona, Scott Naylor, Lee Gilmour, Robbie Paul, Paul Deacon, Brian McDermott, James Lowes, Joe Vagana, Daniel Gartner, Jamie Peacock, Mike Forshaw
Subs: Nathan McAvoy, Paul Anderson, Stuart Fielden, Lee Radford
Tries: Nathan McAvoy (2), Lee Gilmour, Robbie Paul
Goals: Paul Deacon (8)
Castleford Tigers: R Gay, W Pryce, A Johnson, M Eagar, D Rogers, D Orr, M Healey, N Sykes, W Bartrim, D Sampson, M Smith, K Warren, R Hudson
Subs: W Godwin, M Lennon, A Lynch, B Mather
Tries: Rodgers
Goals: Bartrim (2)
The reigning champions have lost only one of their games so far this season, although it was only two tries in the final five minutes which killed off a determined Castleford side at The Jungle.
Lee Gilmour scored the only try of the first half in the 39th minute from a fine Lesley Vainikolo pass, with Paul Deacon's conversion - added to three earlier penalties - giving the Bulls a 12-2 interval lead, Wayne Bartrim kicking Castleford's only points.
Danny Orr created an excellent try for Darren Rogers four minutes after the restart, but Waine Pryce's mistake, when he miskicked a Deacon grubber, gave Nathan McAvoy a score, and Deacon's goal made the scoreline 18-8.
A penalty on the hour made the gap 12 points before Robbie Paul dummied his way through to extend the lead and Vainikolo's break enabled McAvoy to race 45 yards to seal the win, Deacon ending with eight goals from as many attempts.
With a pre-match downpour making the surface slippery, it was no surpise that both sides took early chances to kick for goal, with the Bulls being 4-0 ahead inside six minutes thanks to Deacon before Bartrim, who had already missed with one attempt, pegged two points back on 17 minutes.
The closest either side had come to scoring during the opening quarter had seen Bulls centre Scott Naylor forced into touch by Michael Eagar and Darren Rogers in the corner.
Deacon kicked a third penalty on 26 minutes before Rogers was called upon in defence again, this time to knock the ball dead from a grubber which Robbie Paul was chasing in-goal.
The stalemate continued, with Bartrim then hitting the post with a penalty after the half hour following James Lowes' interference, but the Bulls struck a deadly blow a minute before the break.
Lowes, Paul and Mike Forshaw had spread the ball to the left as the Bulls camped in Castleford's 20 metre area before Lee Gilmour put Vainikolo into space on the wing.
As the cover bundled the giant Kiwi towards touch, he lobbed a ball back inside to Gilmour, who dived bravely over for the first try, Deacon converting from wide out.
The Tigers his back within four minutes of the restart when Andy Lynch's short pass sent excellent skipper Danny Orr away and, as the Bulls defence closed on him, he grubbered towards the wing for Rogers to collect and touch down.
Orr's rousing conversion made the scoreline 12-8, but an error from Waine Pryce, who completely missed the ball as he looked to kick a Deacon grubber dead in goal, allowed Nathan McAvoy - a half time substitute for leg injury victim Gilmour - the simplest of tries, with Deacon inevitably converting.
Tevita Vaikona then produced a superb piece of defending at the other end to knock the ball out of Michael Eagar's hand as he reached for the line to deny the Tigers a try, but the close nature of the game saw the Bulls begin to look for a drop goal to stretch their lead.
Deacon missed with one attempted one-pointer, but added two on the hour to push the gap to 20-8 after Bartrim's obstruction on Paul Anderson after the scrum half had made the break.
The Bulls were the dominant side, and Lowes had been stopped short by a fine Ryan Hudson tackle before both Deacon and Lee Radford missed drop goal attempts and Orr produced a try-saving tackle on Vaikona.
But, in the 75th minute, the dam burst, when Robbie Paul mesmerised the tiring defence with a dummy and show of the ball to dummy runner Stuart Fielden before stepping through the gap, past substitute Wayne Bartrim and under the posts.
In the final minute, they gave a possibly unconvincing edge to the scoreline when Vainikolo chased back for a kick, collected the ball and set off up the field again before sending McAvoy on a 45 metre romp to the corner, Deacon's conversion rounding off the win.
"I don't think the scoreline gave a true reflection of how much effort the guys put in," Tigers coach Graham Steadman told Sky Sports afterwards.
"We had opportunities and we've just got to be a little bit more clinical in good field position - we put ourselves under a lot of pressure.
But we can't sit and dwell on it, it's gone. We've got to learn from it and get it right for Tuesday (when they play St Helens at The Jungle).
"There are a lot of positives come out of (the game), certainly the defensive effort, our shape and formation and we muscled up against a formidable Bradford pack.
"In a lot of respects I'm pleased with the defensive effort - but we've certainly got to be a lot smarter in attack."
Bulls coach Brian Noble was delighted that his side backed up their win over Salford City Reds on Monday against the Tigers, who had not had a midweek game.
"It's a great win for us," he said. "I don't think it's ever easy coming here and that's a fantastic win.
"I would have been delighted with a one-point victory because I thought they would struggle for juice towards the back end but they looked strong towards the finish and we just got ourselves a little bit of breathing space.
"We backed up after a game on Monday night so we've had very little rest and I thought we finished the stronger, looked the tougher and got the two points which we game here for."