Rugby

MATCH REPORT

The Bradford Bulls kept their heads to beat West Yorkshire rivals Halifax 34-46 in a hard faught try fest in the fourth round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup. 

In a first half of 10 tries, Bradford went in 32-24 in front.

A mere four more tries came after the break but the Bulls never really looked to be in any real trouble.

Nerves were struck, however, when Sam Barlow struck within three minutes of the restart to cut the Bulls' lead to four points, but tries from Ian Sibbit, Gareth Raynor (his second) and Patrick Ah Van closed it out.

Bradford were upset by the loss of centre Chev Walker through injury after just four minutes.

But former Great Britain winger Raynor scored in each half to help see off their neighbours, while Shad Royston scored against the club he left last winter and there were further Bulls tries for Michael Platt, Elliott Whitehead, Patrick Ah Van, Tom Burgess and Ian Sibbit.

The home side's other five try scorers were Jim Gannon, Sean Penkywicz, Frank Watene, Bob Beswick and Danny Jones, who kicked four goals, while veteran Graham Holroyd also landed Fax's first conversion

Halifax had hoped to spring an upset to press their claims for a Super League place later this summer. There was however, still plenty to encourage the watching Brian Noble as he prepares to start work with Fax as a consultant next week.

The former Bradford, Wigan and Great Britain coach was at The Shay to fulfil his commitments as a BBC summariser and looked likely to witness a comfortable win for his old Bulls side when the visitors established a 10-0 lead inside eight minutes.

After former Halifax favourite Royston went over from dummy half for the first of the visitors' eight tries, he then provided the pass for left winger Raynor to go over, Ah Van kicking the first of his seven goals.

Royston, a member of Halifax's Championship Grand Final-winning team last September, was also heavily involved in Michael Platt's 20th-minute try to make it a memorable return to The Shay.

But the Bulls struggled to pull away from their spirited opponents, who pulled a try back from veteran forward Gannon on 13 minutes and benefited from the introduction of hooker Penkywicz from the bench.

He scored within seconds of entering the action, nipping over from dummy half, and also created tries for fellow replacements Watene and Jones in the second quarter.

A solo try from second-rower Whitehead, who fooled the Halifax defence with two dummies on a touchline run on the last tackle, kept the visitors in front.

Ah Van then picked off a Penkywicz pass to stroll over for a 40-metre interception try and teenager Burgess gathered a loose ball to score his first for Bradford to ensure they kept their noses in front.

The Bulls' lead was cut to just four points three minutes into the second half when Barlow collected Ben Black's kick to score a fifth Halifax try, but the home side continued to make life difficult for themselves.

A succession of penalties enabled Bradford to pile on the pressure, while Whitehead produced two one-on-one ball steals on the Rob Worrincy to keep the home side on the back foot.

Prop Craig Kopczak got over the line only to fail to ground the ball but the pressure finally told when second rower Sibbit took Marc Herbert's pass to cross for a seventh try.

Ah Van's conversion made it 38-28 and Raynor then made sure of victory when he raced over for his second try on 62 minutes, Ah Van rounding off the scoring with a penalty.

Raynor was denied a hat-trick when his 73rd-minute touchdown was disallowed for a dubious obstruction call and Whitehead also had a try ruled out for a knock-on.

The Spirited Halifax side Halifax had the final say when hooker Beswick scored their sixth try in stoppage time.

The Bulls have been drawn at home to Wigan Warriors in the Carnegie Challenge Cup 5th Round.

The game has been chosen by the BBC to be televised and will be played on Sunday 22nd May at 15:30