Round 5
Bradford Bulls 56 d. Salford City Reds 18

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

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

Bulls thump Reds as Platt keeps up try-scoring form
Tue March 13, 2007
Source: www.superleague.co.uk

Michael Platt grabbed a hat-trick of tries as Bradford Bulls climbed into the top two of engage Super League with a 10-try romp against Salford City Reds.

Platt has scored six tries in engage Super League's opening five rounds since moving from Castleford, while David Solomona, Bradford's off-season recruit from Wakefield Trinity Wildcats, also produced his best display in a Bulls shirt.

The hosts started superbly, charging to an 18-0 lead inside the opening quarter.

Solomona's offload sent half-back Paul Deacon galloping clear. With Salford's defence stretched, Bradford quickly moved the ball from left to right before Platt surged on to Iestyn Harris' floating pass to open the scoring.

Three minutes later, Solomona took centre stage by charging over from close range despite the efforts of two Salford defenders.

Then his break and wonderful reverse flick gave Shontayne Hape enough space to burst clear as the Bulls recorded their third try inside the opening 14 minutes.

Prop forward Andy Coley replied for the Reds after stepping out of Joe Vagana's attempted tackle but Bradford kept their foot on the gas through Marcus St Hilaire's diving effort.

Steve McNamara's side could have been forgiven for believing they had the match won, but Daley Williams' 60-metre break was supported by Luke Dorn to cut the gap to 22-12 at half-time.

However, Salford's resistance was short-lived, with Harris sending Hape over for his second before Sam Burgess combined with Andy Lynch to allow Ian Henderson, making his first starting appearance since August, to cap a fine display with a clever try.

Harris' distribution skills were simply too good for the Reds. He sent Platt over for his second before offloading perfectly to Chris McKenna as Salford's defence continued to tire.

Platt's final try brought up the half-century before McKenna registered his second in the closing stages.

A penalty try in the final seconds was the Reds' only second-half score.

Bradford Bulls (22) 56
Tries: Platt 3, Solomona, Hape 2, St Hilaire, Henderson, McKenna 2
Goals: Deacon 8

Salford City Reds (12) 18
Tries: Coley, Dorn, penalty try
Goals: Wilshere 3

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

Salford City Reds: Hodgson, Williams, Littler, McGuinness, Wilshere, Dorn, Robinson, Coley, Alker, Korkidas, Adamson, Edmondson, Finnigan.
Replacements: Haggerty, Gower, Halliwell, Jewitt.

Referee: Ben Thaler
Attendance: 10,640

Report source: www.superleague.co.uk

Article: Harrison gloom as Bulls rampage


Bulls Eye: Bradford v Salford City
Fri March 9, 2007
Source: www.bradfordbulls.co.uk

In Bulls Eye this week, Bradford coach Steve McNamara and prop Joe Vagana look ahead to Sunday's engage Super League Round 5 game at the Grattan Stadium as the Bulls entertain the Salford City Reds.

STEVE McNAMARA
IT'S IMPORTANT TO GET BACK TO WINNING WAYS THIS WEEK?
It is and we can't wait for this game. We got blitzed in the early stages of that game. We certainly didn't help ourselves but I thought we showed tremendous character to stick in there and try and claw our way back into the game. Hopefully we can start better this week against Salford.

We were way down on defence against Saints and we haven't been very good in that area for a few weeks so we have identified what we need to do and the players have been working very hard defensively this week. Hopefully we can put that into practice against the Reds.

SALFORD ONLY MANAGED THEIR FIRST WIN LAST WEEK BUT YOU WILL NOT BE READING ANYTHING INTO THAT
Nothing whatsoever. The way the table is showing at the moment you can't afford to. Two teams who are sitting at the bottom, Hull and Huddersfield Giants are both tremendously good sides. It is a very tough competition and Salford will be pleased to get the win but they will be coming here looking for another on the back of it. That is the nature of the game now.

WHO DO YOU SEE AS THE DANGERMEN FOR THEM?
They have a few but in particular Korkidas, Colley and Haggerty give them some great go forward and at the moment they have Hodgson and Willshire who are breaking tackles for fun and in Luke Dorn and Luke Robinson they have two fantastic attacking Half Backs.

JOE VAGANA
THERE WILL BE A FEW FAMILIAR FACES THIS WEEK AGAINST THE REDS?
There will. This week we'll have Nobby Naylor, Jimmy Lowes and Karl Harrison all Bulls old boys back at the Grattan Stadium. They will be coming full of confidence after getting that first win under their belts last week against Catalans Dragons. I watched it and it was a very tough game. The conditions were terrible for both teams but it was the Reds that toughed it out the best and they got the 2 points. I thought their big pack took them forward very well and we know we are up against a strong side this week. They will be looking for another win here on the back of that success but we are determined to get back to winning ways and ruin the old boys return!

SQUAD
Steve McNamara has named the following 20 man squad for the game. Craig Kopczak replaces the suspended Terry Newton.

The Squad is: I Harris, Kopczak, Platt, McAvoy, Evans, Cook, Feather, Vagana, Hape, Henderson, Solomona, McKenna, Deacon, Burgess, B Harris, Vainikolo, Morrison, Lynch, Langley, St Hilaire.

MILESTONES
LESLEY VAINIKOLO has scored 134 tries in 136 games.

IESTYN HARRIS needs 10 points for a total of 200 for the Bulls. He has scored 29 tries, 36 goals and 2 Drop Goals.

News sent by: www.bradfordbulls.co.uk

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