Round 2
Warrington Wolves 20 l. Bradford Bulls 36

2007 engage English Super League Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: United Kingdom > National > First Grade Competition: engage English Super League

Platt shows the way as Bulls take the spoils
Mon February 19, 2007
Source: www.bradfordbulls.co.uk

New boy Michael Platt grabbed an impressive hat-trick of tries as Bradford Bulls staged a magnificent recovery to make it two opening wins in the engage Super League this season.

Full-back Platt, snapped up from Castleford Tigers, took the honours as the Bulls fought back from 14-6 down just before the interval.

But it was far from a one man show as the Bulls dug deep to stun the Wolves.

Warrington, already without long-term absentees Adrian Morley and Chris Bridge, suffered a double pre-match blow with Martin Gleeson and Vinnie Anderson withdrawing.

But the hosts, boosted by their previous win at Wigan Warriors, went ahead with a Lee Briers penalty after 12 minutes for Jamie Langley's offside.

Paul Rauhihi was impressive up front for the Wolves and his pass to Rob Parker sent the former Bulls forward charging upfield for Briers to send Ben Westwood over for his first try to open up an 8-0 lead.

Bradford hit back with Platt's first touchdown with Michael Sullivan guilty of slack defence.

Rauhihi saved a possible try in the Bradford half when Lesley Vainikolo collected Briers kick and raced clear, only to be halted by a thundering tackle from his Kiwi international team-mate.

But it was Briers calling the shots for Warrington with his perfectly weighted kick allowing Westwood to grab his second try and open up a 14-6 lead after 34 minutes.

Henry Fa'afili's blunder from the kick-off was a bonus for Bradford who almost took advantage with Vainikolo narrowly failing to latch onto Terry Newton's grubber.

Bradford were not to be denied just before the break with Joe Vagana's offload and Iestyn Harris' pass sending Australian new boy Glenn Morrison skipping past Jon Clarke, Stuart Reardon and Briers - with Paul Deacon's second conversion cutting the interval deficit to 14-12.

The Bulls drew level when Briers' dropout failed to travel 10 metres and Deacon slotted over the penalty.

Deacon's pin point kicking earned a 40-20, setting up the chance for Morrison to create a try for Vainikolo in the corner and fire Bradford ahead for the first time.

Worse followed for Warrington after 55 minutes with Chris Riley slow to react to Harris' kick and James Evans accepted the gift to open up a 24-14 lead.

Bradford made it three tries in eight minutes with Platt starting and finishing a slick move also involving Langley and Morrison.

The Bulls were reduced to 12 men when Sam Burgess was sin-binned for holding down with Warrington immediately responding when Chris Leikvoll charged over - and Briers' conversion reduced the arrears to 30-20.

But Platt capped a top show by picking up Brent Grose's kick to sprint 70 metres five minutes from time and complete his treble.

Report source: www.bradfordbulls.co.uk

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