Rugby

Mick Potter steered the Bradford Bulls to the finest result of his short reign as they overcame sworn enemies Leeds Rhinos by 12 points to 18 to claim their first victory at Headingley in almost four years.

Not since June 29, 2007 had the Bulls beaten their sworn enemies on their own turf but two first-half tries from loose forward Olivier Elima ended that unwanted sequence.

Potters men produced a performance overflowing with courage and determination as they withstood the Rhinos threw at them in the second half and clawed themselves away on the scoreboard for a famous success in front of a bumper crowd of 18,095.

In truth it was an error-strewn encounter characterised by handling errors, yet the Bulls deserve great credit for keeping Leeds scoreless after the resumption as Patrick Ah Van’s four second-half penalties proved decisive.

Bradford, for whom hooker Matt Diskin was making his first return to Headingley after 12 years at Leeds, began brightly before Jamie Peacock helped to swing the match in the hosts’ favour.

The England captain and former Bulls prop punched some sizeable holes in the visiting defence with a series of typically huge hits before a fine 40-20 kick from Marc Herbert gave Bradford some vital breathing space.

Yet genuine chances remained scarce in the opening 20 minutes as passes from both sides were undercooked, misplaced or simply knocked on.

That changed in the 20th minute as the Rhinos finally broke Bradford’s spirited resistance thanks to a fine array of inter-passing which saw the ball go through five pairs of hands and culminated in Ryan Hall crossing in the left corner.

Rhinos skipper Kevin Sinfield, a pivotal figure in Hall’s try with some meticulous dummy running, added a fine touchline conversion but Bradford were off the mark themselves three minutes later in contentious circumstances.

A high kick from Bulls stand-off Ben Jeffries was clumsily fielded by the Rhinos defence and the ball ran loose for Elima to pounce with the slightest of touches.

Ah Van failed to add the extras before Leeds stretched their lead with a second try in the 29th minute.

Bulls wing Jason Crookes spilled a high kick from Sinfield and Jamie Jones-Buchanan grounded the loose ball for a try which Sinfield converted.

Bradford refused to lie down, however, and they conjured a delightful score in the 34th minute when Elliott Whitehead sent Herbert’s high kick into the path of Elima, who touched down from close range with ease for a try which Ah Van converted to make it 12-10.

Leeds were punished for an offside offence six minutes after the resumption and Ah Van kicked the resultant penalty to make it 12-12.

Diskin was placed on report after he sparked a melee with a high shot on Carl Ablett which left the Rhinos man with blood pouring down his face.

Jeffries was then helped off the field after taking a bang to the head but his team’s dogged approach continued to hold them in good stead and they earned a succession of penalties, one of which Ah Van sent over the posts from long range in the 59th minute.

He added another two-pointer three minutes later and, although the pendulum began to swing heavily in Leeds’ favour, Ah Van landed his fourth penalty penalty late on before another flare-up on the final whistle saw players from both sides trade punches.