Rugby

Patrick Ah Van’s two tries helped Bradford Bulls pile the misery on beleaguered engage Super League side Harlequins RL, who crashed to their sixth straight defeat.

Ah Van also kicked five goals to give him a personal tally of 18 points as the Bulls won away from home for the first time since February – their last victory on the road coming at Crusaders RL.

Karl Pryce went over twice against his old club for Quins, but his efforts were not enough to halt what is an increasingly-desperate run for the London club.

Harlequins were to have most of the early possession and came close in the second minute when Michael Platt just managed to deal with Luke Gale’s kick towards the right-hand corner.

They deservedly went ahead after seven minutes when Chad Randall fed former Bull Pryce, who bulldozed his way through from a few metres out. Gale missing a difficult conversion.

The visitors then hit back with a good spell of their own and only a thumping tackle from Pryce stopped Jamie Langley in his tracks when well placed on the right.

But the Bulls hit the front when a superb break by Ben Jeffries allowed Ah Van to sprint clear to score a try which he then duley converted himself.

Two minutes before half-time, the Bulls opened the gap when Shad Royston started to run deep in his own half before spotting a gap down the left and shrugging off the tackle of Chris Riley to score under the posts.

Ah Van kicked the goal to give Bradford a 12-4 lead as the players came off for half-time both sets of supporters hoping for more quality after the restart.

It took less than two minutes for the Bulls to strike again in the second half when Jeffries found Ah Van, who had the simple task of touching down in the right-hand corner - however he could not add the extras.

It was a big setback for Quins and they could not quite strike back quickly when it took three Bradford players to stop Pryce after a strong run down the left wing.

Ah Van then added two points to his tally when he kicked a penalty after the hosts were too slow in releasing Marc Herbert in the tackle.

But Quins hit back from the restart as Danny Ward took up possession before off-loading to Karl Temata, who sprinted through the gap to score and Gale’s conversion reduced the gap to eight points.

But then came a moment that sums up their current plight as Gale fumbled Pryce’s awful pass backwards before his offload was intercepted by Elliott Whitehead, who cantered home unopposed.

Pryce then went some way to redeeming himself when he took Randall’s pass before swivelling away from his tackler to touch down and Gale converted from out wide.

But the Bulls were to have the last word a minute from the end when Heath L’Estrange passed inside to Andy Lynch, who plunged over under the posts to allow Ah Van to complete his haul.