Head to Head

At Provident Stadium	Last 8 Meetings	Away from Home
WIN 38-12, 16/02/2013	WON 5 LOST 3 DRAW 0	WIN 12-20, 12/02/2012
WIN 46-32, 04/06/2012		LOST 34-30, 10/07/2011
WIN 18-14, 20/03/2011		LOST 28-22, 27/06/2010
WIN 41-22, 19/02/2010
LOST 38-40, 05/07/2009

Magic Weekend fixtures will display as either home or away

Stats over last 8 encounters

BULLS		Castleford Tigers
253	TOTAL POINTS	194
43	TOTAL TRIES	34
40	TOTAL GOALS	29

BULLS EYE

 

In Bulls Eye this week, Head Coach Francis Cummins looks forward to Saturday’s game at the Provident Stadium against Castleford Tigers.

 

FRANCIS CUMMINS

 

LOOKING BACK TO HULL, IN REVIEW WHAT DID YOU TAKE OUT OF IT?

 

“Well we started really slowly and Hull started well.  We gave them some easy ball and they offloaded really well.  The positives were that we fought our way back into the game and dominated field position. We didn’t play well in Goodball and sometimes we were just one pass away.  I must have shown them ten clips where we have hit one option and if we had taken another one we would have scored tries.  We weren’t that far away and I really liked that they stuck at it.  They worked really hard, had to chase back at times and we got a couple of tries late on but really, we were just off the mark.

 

We are not down at all. We are just disappointed that we didn’t put on a good show and it was a drop in intensity from the week before but we probably always knew there would be little blips like this along the way.  Looking back to our pre season we dominated the Dewsbury game, dominated for large parts against Leeds and dominated against Wakefield, well we had it on the other side this week but we came back well from that first quarter where we got dominated.   We really got back in the game but we just didn’t have enough quality on their line on the day.”

 

THE TIGERS WILL BE COMING HERE WITH THEIR TAILS UP.

 

“They had a great win against Leeds last week and we have looked at some footage of that game.  To defeat the Champions takes a lot of effort but they really deserved that win and they will be coming here looking for another two points.

 

We always have tough games against Castleford and in a lot of ways I think we are very similar in where we are as clubs at the moment.  Although they have been able to bring in seven or eight players they, like us, have not got the biggest squad. They have a lot of dangerous players in there and they will be tough opponents for us.

 

Their starting line up, like ours, is very strong and, again like us, they have some young players in there and they will be tested, as we will, throughout the season.  They have brought some good professionals in there who will be able to help the young players who may well have to play as the season progresses.

 

THEIR GAME LAST WEEK WAS PLAYED IN ATROCIOUS CONDITIONS AND THAT LOOKS SET TO CONTINUE FOR THE FIRST FEW WEEKS OF THE SEASON.  ARE YOU MINDFUL OF THAT IN YOUR PREPARATION?

 

Well if it’s like last summer it will be like it all year!! But seriously you have to think about field position and if you are playing in those sorts of conditions then that’s when your forwards earn their money and your kickers too.  It does put another angle on the game and you have to make sure you win all the little battles.  It may be that all the patterns you have worked on in training don’t come off and you just have to find another way to play, which is intriguing in itself.  It can affect the spectacle really and it might not be too much like Super League and summer rugby but often it just has to go back to old fashioned mud and guts.

 

SQUAD NEWS

 

Bulls Coach Francis Cummins has named the same 19-man squad for this week’s game and will give Michael Platt as long as possible before deciding if he will play.

 

The Squad in full is:  James Donaldson, Adam Sidlow, Michael Platt, Manase Manuokafoa, Jamie Langley, Matt Diskin, Brett Kearney, Nick Scruton, Heath L’Estrange, Matty Blythe, Keith Lulia, Elliot Whitehead, Elliot Kear, Jarrod Sammut, Danny Addy, Tom Olbison, Chev Walker, Jobe Murphy, Jamie Foster

 

MILESTONES

 

CHEV WALKER needs 2 Tries for a career total of 100.  He has scored 98 Tries for Leeds, Hull KR, Gt Britain, England and Bradford Bulls. 

 

JAMIE FOSTER needs 2 points for a career total of 750.  He has scored 40 tries and kicked 294 goals in 50 appearances for the Bulls, St Helens and Hull FC.

 

JAMIE LANGLEY needs 2 points for a total of 150 for the Bulls.  He has scored 37 tries in 239 appearances for the club.