Head to Head

At Provident Stadium	Last 8 Meetings	Away from Home
LOST 6-20, 22/04/2012	WON 4 LOST 4 DRAW 0	WIN 18-43, 03/03/2013
WIN 36-0, 17/07/2011		WIN 12-34, 19/08/2012
LOST 6-52, 06/06/2010		LOST 50-16, 13/03/2011
		LOST 24-12, 05/02/2010
		WIN 18-28, 16/08/2009

Magic Weekend fixtures will display as either home or away

Stats over last 8 encounters

BULLS		Huddersfield Giants
181	TOTAL POINTS	194
31	TOTAL TRIES	33
28	TOTAL GOALS	31

BULLS EYE

 

In Bulls Eye this week, Head Coach Francis Cummins looks forward to the trip to the John Smith’s Stadium as the Bulls take on the Giants.

 

FRANCIS CUMMINS

 

LOOKING BACK AT THE SAINTS GAME, WHAT WENT WRONG?

 

“We got dominated early in the game.  We have talked about it and compared it to what we did to Wakefield in Round 1. We became Wakefield and Saints got on a great role and were running straight through us early on because our defence was not good enough and then you add the fact that we kept getting penalised late in the tackle count.  When you haven’t got the ball it is the hardest game in the world.  Having said that we did fight back, in fact in both games we have lost, at Hull and against Saints, we showed real character to come back when realistically we were staring down the barrel of a big defeat.  We asked them some questions and should have scored more tries, Matty Blythe should have scored for instance and we know the quality of our attack is getting better but we have to put all the bits together.  It’s no good just waiting until you are in Goodball to attack.  You need to be ready to put the plan into operation and we could see that we were pretty close at times but I was pleased we stuck at it and made a game of it in the second period after a terrible start.

 

We got a response after we had lost to Hull but, with all respect to Castleford, we will have to have a bigger response against Giants.  They are another big pack and we’ll have to front up.  I am happy with how we have responded before and in the Saints game but I don’t want to have to be responding.  We need to learn from our mistakes and see where we went wrong.  We have had a good look at the start of that game, knowing that we weren’t on the mark and we have areas we need to keep working on and we know, for the rest of the year, we have to keep working hard to compete.

 

TOP OF THE LEAGUE; WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THEM THIS YEAR?

 

They have started very well haven’t they?  They have a big pack and they don’t give much away so you have to be prepared to go toe to toe with them.  If we go like last week and they have ten sets to one, then it’s going to be a long afternoon, so we have to stand toe to toe and move them around a bit but, having said that, we have got to stick to what we are doing and make sure we are asking the questions of their defence.  I do believe that you can break any defence down but you have to do your homework and be smart.  We need to make sure we execute the game plan on the day.

 

THEY HAVE A HUGE PACK BUT THERE IS MORE TO THEM THAN SIZE, ISN’T THERE?

 

They have a big pack but they have some great outside backs as well who are very athletic and a real handful.  So when you have sorted out the pack and outside backs, then you have to look at their half backs and I am starting to scare myself to death!!  The strength of our group is in its entirety and we have to hunt as a pack- in that I mean the group as a whole- because we haven’t got the strength in depth.  We need to get amongst them and ruffle a few feathers.  We need to put them under pressure because if we allow them to play like we allowed Saints to play, then they will just execute the game plan they ran through the day before and it will become easy for them.  Our game has to be about getting amongst them.

 

We will have a look at what they did last week – against Wakefield- but we will also look at them when they we are at their best too, in other games but we need to be ready to do what we do and if we do that then we have a chance against any team because we are getting better in Goodball, it was just that we didn’t get there until thirty one minutes last week!!

 

WHAT ARE YOU INJURY WORRIES THIS WEEK?

 

We have to check on Matt Diskin, who suffered a very bad dead leg last week and it must have been a bad one for him not to be able to go back on but everyone else came through ok.  It’s a good job too because what we have is what we’ve got.  We could have a few additions into the squad – John Bateman will play for the Academy on Thursday - in the next couple of weeks but for now we have to with this group of players.

 

SQUAD NEWS

 

Bulls Coach Francis Cummins will name his side tomorrow, Friday and will check on the fitness of Matt Diskin.

 

MILESTONES

 

CHEV WALKER needs 1 Try for a career total of 100.  He has scored 99 Tries for Leeds, Hull KR, Gt Britain, England and Bradford Bulls. 

 

JAMIE LANGLEY needs 2 points for a total of 150 for the Bulls.  He has scored 37 tries in 241 appearances for the club.