Archive
Fri, 16 August 2002
Bradford Bulls 22
St Helens 50
Bradford Bulls: Michael Withers, Tevita Vaikona, Scott Naylor, Leon Pryce, Lesley Vainikolo, Robbie Paul, Paul Deacon, Joe Vagana, James Lowes, Stuart Fielden, Jamie Peacock, Daniel Gartner, Mike Forshaw
Subs: Nathan McAvoy, Lee Gilmour, Brian McDermott, Richard Moore
Tries: Scott Naylor, Stuart Fielden (2)
Goals: Paul Deacon (5)
Saints: Paul Wellens, Sean Hoppe, Martin Gleeson, Paul Newlove, Darren Albert, Paul Sculthorpe, Sean Long, Darren Britt, Keiron Cunningham, Sonny Nickle, Chris Joynt, John Stankevitch, Peter Shiels
Subs: Barry Ward, Michael Higham, Tommy Martyn, Mike Bennett
Tries: Stankevitch, Cunningham (2), Gleeson, Albert (2), Newlove, Long
Goals: Sculthorpe (9)
After going 8-0 down, Saints raced into a 22-10 half time lead through Martin Gleeson, Paul Newlove, Keiron Cunningham and Darren Albert.
Sean Long, Cunningham and John Stankevitch extended that lead to 30 points before Stuart Fielden responded with a brace, but two penalties from nine-goal Paul Sculthorpe settled the nerves and Albert's second sealed the points.
Saints travelled to Valley Parade having never won away to Bradford in Super League and knowing that the Bulls had not been defeated on the Valley Parade pitch in the competition since moving from Odsal.
Ironically, this game came on the same day that they announced movement towards returning to their 'home' next season, but they could hardly have made a better start.
They dominated early on, including tackling Cunningham into touch on the fourth tackle of the match, and Paul Deacon's penalty broke the deadlock on eight minutes.
From the kick off, the Bulls showed just why they sit atop the Super League table, with Joe Vagana spinning the ball wide to Tevita Vaikona, the Tongan winger bursting away, finding Michael Withers before Scott Naylor supported to score beneath the posts.
Deacon converted, and the Bulls looked on course to extend their lead over Saints to four points at 8-0 ahead.
The visitors, though, hit back on 13 minutes, when Darren Albert out-jumped Lesley Vainikolo to Sean Long's bomb and fed Martin Gleeson, who raced under the posts, Sculthorpe converting.
Three minutes later, a typical Saints try saw them hit the front, with Sonny Nickle and Paul Wellens keeping the ball alive and, despite Peter Shiels being unable to collect the offload, Paul Newlove scooped up to step over.
Another Deacon penalty cut the gap to 12-10, but Cunningham burst over from dummy half on the half hour mark with a clever blind side dart.
And an unselfish piece of play from Long, who intercepted Deacon's pass deep inside his own quarter and raced to half way before freeing Australian speedster Albert, who coasted under the posts, gave Saints a 22-10 interval lead.
If the Bulls weren't shell-shocked at this stage, they were stunned two minutes after the restart, when Darren Britt's superb offload saw Long shoot away from 50 metres and touch down, despite the best efforts of Vainikolo.
On 46 minutes, Cunningham added a second try from dummy half, and the visitors led 34-10 against a team who were rapidly seeing their proud home record slip away.
Sean Long had a score ruled out when he lost the ball attempting to touch down in Vaikona's tackle, but when Tommy Martyn forced an error from Michael Withers, John Stankevitch collected a Peter Shiels offload to dive in and open a 30-point lead.
Cunningham had his hat-trick try ruled out following Barry Ward's altercation with James Lowes, and the Bulls used the field position to hit back.
Stuart Fielden powered between Sculthorpe and Stankevitch to touch down from 15 yards on the hour, Deacon converting, although two quick Sculthorpe penalties restored Saints' advantage at 44-16.
Deacon's grubber allowed Fielden to collect a second score, but a delightful try rounded off the victory for Saints.
Sculthorpe chipped over on half way, and Albert did well to collect the bouncing ball before reaching the corner, Sculthorpe adding the touchline conversion - his ninth of the night - to cap a superb victory.