Rugby

MATCH REPORT

St Helens kicked a contrivertial injury-time penalty to help snatch a 14 all draw from a much improved Bulls side at a rain drenched Odsal Stadium, Bradford.

Not even the bravery of James Roby could help them overcome a dogged Bradford Bulls side, who coped better with the difficult, wet conditions and were set to record a third successive victory until referee James Child awarded a penalty for obstruction as the final hooter was about to sound.

The outcome was tough on the Bulls forwards who produced a tremendous defensive effort to lay a victory platform, although Bradford were also indebted to the all-round skills of Brett Kearney, who made a big impact on his comeback from a broken hand.

The versatile Kearney took over at full-back from Shad Royston but was never far from the action as Bradford nullified the threat of their high-flying visitors, who were able to field their strongest team for weeks.

Saints had Kyle Eastmond at centre in the absence of Francis Meli, but Sia Soliola and Tony Puletua backed up from Friday's Origin match, along with England internationals Michael Shenton, Jon Wilkin and James Graham.

Saints also also received a boost when full-back Paul Wellens declared himself fit after picking up a ‘dead leg’ in last week's win over Crusaders RL, while Australian forwards Josh Perry and Chris Flannery returned from suspension and injury respectively.

Roby maintained an ever-present record going back exactly 12 months, despite a fractured eye socket which ruled him out of England's game against the Exiles on Friday night, and it took him just six minutes to make an impact as he sped away from dummy half to get prop Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook charging over for the game's opening try.

With young half-backs Lee Gaskell and Jonny Lomax maintaining their hugely promising partnership, Saints looked threatening every time they had the ball and would have held a healthy lead by half-time but for having two tries disallowed by the video referee.

Eastmond slid over the line in a two-man tackle but lost control of the ball at the last, while Lomax had an effort disallowed for obstruction and all Saints had to show for their early dominance was a penalty goal from Foster.

Then, excellent play from Kearney beat Wellens to gather the ball from Marc Herbert's high kick and touch down and Bradford made the most of a fumble by Gaskell in front of his own posts, with skipper Andy Lynch romping through a gap in the Saints defence two plays later.

Patrick Ah Van added both conversions but missed an easy penalty goal and Saints drew level five minutes before half-time when Roby's lightning pass caught out the Bradford defence as winger Thomas Makinson went over unopposed at the corner.

As the already tricky conditions deteriorated further, scoring chances were few and far between in the second half.

The Bulls had a glorious opportunity when Foster lost the ball a couple of feet from his own line but prop Craig Kopczak could not gather it cleanly and they had to settle for a 40-metre penalty from Ah Van which went in off an upright to put them back in front on the hour.

That looked to be enough to give Bradford the points but Foster kept his nerve at the end to ensure the honours were shared.