Game

Sunday 12 Jul 2009

Kick Off 15:00

REPORT

Hull KR maintained their place in engage Super League’s top four as they overcame a shaky start to beat Bradford Bulls 32-12 at Craven Park, Kingston-upon-Hull.

Liam Colbon and Kris Welham grabbed two tries apiece as Rovers recovered from 6-0 and 12-6 down to claim victory.

For much of the opening 20 minutes the home side hardly saw the ball and it was no big surprise when the Bulls opened the scoring on nine minutes, Terry Newton providing the ball which sent in full-back Dave Halley and Paul Deacon added the conversion.

Nine minutes later a superb kick from Rovers’ Michael Dobson stopped just short of the dead ball line and Scott Murrell dived in to touch down with Dobson’s kick putting Rovers level.

Bradford went back ahead on 25 minutes when Michael Worrincy galloped home with Paul Sykes converting as Deacon was off the field with a head injury.

On the half-hour Rovers closed the gap when Jake Webster sent in Colbon in the right corner for an unconverted try.

And they took the lead in the 36th minute when another Dobson kick found Peter Fox whose inside pass sent in Welham.

Dobson converted to put Rovers 16-12 ahead at the break.

After some end-to-end exchanges and three try-saving tackles by Shaun Briscoe, Rovers went further ahead in the 54th minute when Welham took his second try from Paul Cooke’s kick. Dobson’s conversion drifted just wide.

Colbon’s second try came in the 67th minute. Briscoe made the initial break and the ball continued to be moved to the right and Colbon touched down in the corner. Dobson was again off target with the conversion.

Rovers then forced a drop-out and almost at once Bradford conceded a penalty which allowed Dobson to slot the ball over the posts from 35 metres and a 26-12 lead.

And with three minutes to go Daniel Fitzhenry rounded off the scoring with a try close to the posts, Dobson adding the extras.

POST-MATCH COMMENTS

Hull KR head coach Justin Morgan was understandably the happier coach of the two after seeing his side see off Bradford Bulls by a comfortable 32-12 margin despite being behind early in the game.

Morgan said the win was a good confidence-booster ahead of the tough clash with Leeds, who Rovers face next Friday.

"For a couple of weeks we have been really happy with our preparations and not wavered in our commitment to training, but we have just come up a bit short and lost a couple of close games," he said.

"It was important for our confidence and I think you saw that in the last 10 minutes when we played with a little more freedom."

"We dictated the second half, although we had no real right to, but we had some of our decisiveness back in defence.

"I asked the players for a big performance. Shaun Briscoe came up with three or four try-saving tackles and (Clint) Newton, (Ben) Galea and (Mick) Vella led us well."

"Benny Galea made some pretty important tackles for us. Peter Fox just wanted to bounce back after last week and today's performance is an indication of how far he has come."

"I have also got to give some credit to our unsung heroes Scott Wheeldon and Rhys Lovegrove who held us tight in the opening period of the second half.

"We want to maintain our spot in the top four and look forward to going to Leeds with a win behind us."

Bradford boss Steve McNamara said: "I think discipline cost us in the first half and I thought we were looking quite strong and OK, and then every time we got them where we wanted we let them off the hook. The first try we conceded came on the back of us being in complete control."

"I am now concerned about us getting up and running for next week. I still think there were a whole lot of positives to take out of the game. We were in control at the start and the stats will show we were in Hull KR territory for most of the game."

"It's not all doom and gloom but we were way off the mark during the second half apart from the initial 10-minute period. Certainly things are not going for us and we have to stay strong. Hopefully the tide will turn. We scored a great try in the first half and then lose the guy who created it (Paul Deacon) with a head injury."