Round 4
St Helens 34 d. Bradford Bulls 22

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

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

Tyrer's dream debut as Saints defeat Bulls
Sat March 3, 2007
Source: www.superleague.co.uk

Teenager Steve Tyrer enjoyed a dream full debut with a 14-point haul as champions St Helens ended the only 100 per cent record in engage Super League.

The 17-year-old centre scored a try and five goals and there were landmark tries for Ade Gardner and Jon Wilkin as the newly-crowned world champions became the first team to beat the Bulls.

Saints picked up from where they left off against Brisbane Broncos at the Reebok Stadium with a brilliant first-half display that made a mockery of their previous league form.

Bradford hardly knew what had hit them as injury-hit Saints struck with three tries in the first nine minutes to seize control at Knowsley Road and were 28-0 up before the visitors rallied.

The Bulls stay top of the table, shading surprise packet Hull KR on points difference, but were well beaten and also have a worry over hooker Terry Newton, who was put on report for a late tackle on Wilkin.

Saints were forced to bring in Tyrer for his first start, with Willie Talau switching to a pack shorn of four regulars including Paul Sculthorpe, while another teenager, Steve Bannister, made his home debut from the bench.

But the supremely confident champions made light of their injury woes to turn on the style from the kick-off to run the full-strength Bulls ragged.

It was one-way traffic from the moment hugely impressive hooker James Roby got prop Nick Fozzard romping through a gap in the visitors' defence after just two minutes.

Quick-fire passing got winger Gardner over four minutes later for the 100th try of his career and Bradford had barely touched the ball when loose forward Wilkin celebrated his 100th appearance with his side's third try, hacking the ball forward after Lesley Vainikolo had fumbled Leon Pryce's high kick.

It was St Helens at their very best as Sean Long and Roby combined to get Talau through another gaping hole, while second rower Lee Gilmour finished off the best move of the match to claim a fifth try inside 23 minutes.

Tyrer kicked four of his five conversion attempts to make it 28-0 but it was no surprise that they failed to sustain the momentum.

They were forced to defend just as impressively to bring down Bradford loose forward Glenn Morrison and captain Paul Deacon short of their line but the Bulls gave themselves hope with two tries in a five-minute spell just before the break.

Centre Shontayne Hape made the most of some clever handling by David Solomona and Morrison to grab one try back and then second rower Jamie Langley charged on to Iestyn Harris' pass to touch down, with Deacon adding both goals.

Bannister had a try disallowed a minute into the second half for a forward pass but Tyrer capped a fairytale appearance when he supported a break by Wilkin to score an 80-metre try.

The youngster also added the touchline conversion to extend his side's lead to 34-12 but Bradford showed they were not finished when Solomona forced his way over from dummy half on 49 minutes.

Hape was then held up over the line as the Bulls put the Saints defence under tremendous pressure but the Yorkshiremen had given themselves too much to do and Hape's last-minute try was too little too late.

St Helens (28) 34
Tries: Fozzard, Gardner, Wilkin, Talau, Gilmour, Tyrer
Goals: Tyrer 5

Bradford Bulls (12) 22
Tries: Hape 2, Langley, Solomona
Goals: Deacon 3

St Helens: Wellens, Gardner, Gidley, Talau, Meli, Pryce, Long, Fozzard, Roby, Cayless, Gilmour, Tyrer, Wilkin.
Replacements: Cunningham, Graham, Hargreaves, Bannister.

Bradford Bulls: Platt, McAvoy, B. Harris, Hape, Vainikolo, I. Harris, Deacon, Vagana, Newton, Feather, Langley, Solomona, Morrison.
Replacements: Henderson, Lynch, Burgess, McKenna.

Referee: R Silverwood
Att: 11,793

Report source: www.superleague.co.uk

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