Round 22
Bradford Bulls 24 d. Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 10

2008 engage English Super League Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

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

Wildcats surrender to Bulls
Mon July 21, 2008
Source: www.superleague.co.uk

Sam Burgess' first-half sinbinning ultimately counted for little as Bradford Bulls overturned an interval deficit to send engage Super League play-off rivals Wakefield Wildcats into their Carnegie Challenge Cup semi-final on the back of a 24-10 defeat.

The 19-year-old Bulls and England forward, who is nursing a shoulder injury which could yet require reconstructive surgery that would rule him out of the World Cup this autumn, became involved in a melee involving several players in the 32nd minute.

The incident was in keeping with a chaotic first half which saw Wakefield establish a 6-0 lead through Damien Blanch's second-minute try and a penalty from Brad Drew.

But the Wildcats surrendered meekly after the break, allowing Bradford to hit back with four tries through Paul Deacon, Terry Newton, Ben Jeffries and Iestyn Harris.

It was the worst possible way for John Kear's men to prepare for next Sunday's Challenge Cup semi-final against Hull at the Keepmoat Stadium.

Wakefield rested their talismanic scrum-half Danny Brough ahead of their date in Doncaster but Drew initially dovetailed well alongside Jamie Rooney at half-back in the first half.

Indeed, the visitors led inside the second minute when Danny Sculthorpe sent a teasing grubber kick into the right-hand corner and Blanch reacted quickest to race forward and ground the ball.

Drew failed to convert the score but Wakefield began to build up a head of steam as the half progressed.

That the Bulls failed to create any genuine try-scoring opportunities said everything about their first-half malaise.

And after Drew's penalty put Wakefield further ahead, Burgess found himself in the sinbin after getting involved in a scrap initially sparked by Matt Petersen squaring up to Newton in the 32nd minute.

However, with Burgess back on shortly after the restart, Bradford rediscovered their fire and in the 49th minute a piece of delightful footwork allowed Deacon to weave his way over the line from close range.

Three minutes later Newton burrowed his way over from acting half and on the hour mark former Wakefield stand-off Jeffries scampered clear for Bradford's third.

Deacon converted all three to send his side 18-6 ahead and although Wakefield hit back soon after for an unconverted try from Blanch in the right corner, a delicate offload from prop Joe Vagana ushered Harris over from 10 metres out.

Deacon once again added the extras to seal an ultimately handsome victory and encourage hopes of securing a coveted play-off berth - possibly at faltering Wakefield's expense.

Report Source: www.superleague.co.uk

Article: Kear: We must get up for the Cup


Bulls Eye: Bradford v Wakefield
Sat July 19, 2008
Source: www.bradfordbulls.co.uk

In this week's Bulls Eye Bradford coach Steve McNamara and halfback Iestyn Harris look forward to Sunday's engage Super League Round 22 clash at the Grattan Stadium when the Bulls take on Wakefield. Both clubs are looking to cement 6th spot in the table.

STEVE McNAMARA
DO YOU THINK THE WILDCATS WILL COME HERE WITH ONE EYE ON THE SEMI FINAL NEXT WEEK?
Quite possibly but probably more in relation to the fact that they will all want to platy in that game and they will be keen to put in a good performance to make it impossible for them to be left out of the Semi Final side but nothing more than that. There is one week to go before that game and I know if I was a player in that position I would be putting my best foot forward to make sure I was in the side, so I am sure we will see the best of Wakefield this week.

YOU HAVE BEEN IN THAT POSITION. HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO FOCUS WHEN THERE IS A BIG GAME THE FOLLOWING WEEK?
I don't think it's too difficult. The game is tough enough and of you have one eye off it you will get hurt anyway. You have to focus on what's before you or there won't be a next week if it all goes wrong for you, so you just have to get on with it. I am sure they will be highly motivated because they have places to play for in the Semi Final and the way the league table is at the moment, sixth spot is up for grabs, so it's a big, big game for both sides. We'd like to have won more games and been higher but we are where we are and we get another opportunity to cement our place in the Top Six this week.

I have often said that performances are more important then results but this week I think they are both equally important and perhaps the result is more so because of the situation where we are on the ladder because if you don't get the performance right you won't get the result. Generally they go hand id hand and that why we link the two together.

YOU SAID LAST WEEK THAT THE SIDE MADE TOO MANY SCHOOLBOY ERRORS. HOW DO YOU STOP THAT?
A lot of it is down to individuals. The errors that were made were because a lot of our backfield were throwing passes they shouldn't have and dropping the ball whilst playing it. These are elementary mistakes and we need to get smarter in areas like concentration and understanding the scoreboard and the situation, which are players are smart enough to do and we are all aware if we cut those things out we should be OK for Sunday. Some times the opposition force errors in you but the Michael Platt play the ball error last week was because he had been hit hard in a heavy tackle and wasn't quite aware of where he was but there are other errors in that game that we put on ourselves. We try to force errors from the opposition and hopefully they comer up with some of the mistake we did.

IESTYN HARRIS
YOU HAVE PLAYED A COUPLE OF GAME AT HOOKER RECENTLY. HOW HAVE YOU ENJOYED IT?
It's been good. I have covered a few positions this year and I've enjoyed it. Things have gone pretty good, although the results could have been better. Our performances are getting better and hopefully that will show in the results.

IT MUST HAVE BEEN DISAPPOINTING TO LOSE SO CLOSELY AT WARRINGTON?
Yes it was. I thought we certainly did enough to win but we made some crucial errors in some crucial parts of the field and you get burnt when you do that. If we can cut those things out and keep playing the way we are, without those little errors, then we will become a strong team.

IT'S ALMOST THE PLAY OFF'S AND IT'S TIME WE CEMENTED OUR PLACE IN THE TOP SIX?
We are floating around that in sixth spot and in danger of slipping out so the next three or four weeks are vital for us as to where we want to go in the season. We'd like to be a bit higher up but we have to work hard and try and climb up to at least fourth spot.

IT WAS GOOD TO SEE PAUL DEACON IN THE SIDE AGAIN LAST WEEK?
It's been a little bit frustrating for him lately. He missed seven weeks with a hamstring injury that he did in training and it's difficult when you injure yourself in training because it frustrates you that you haven't done it in the game. It was good to get him back on the field and we certainly had a lot more shape and played pretty well.

SQUAD
Sam Burgess, Terry Newton and Paul Sykes return to the squad this week after missing out at Warrington but Wayne Godwin and Chris Feather are omitted.

The 19 man Squad is: Matt James, Craig Kopczak, Terry Newton, James Evans, Dave Halley, Michael Platt, Chris Nero, Paul Sykes, Iestyn Harris, Ben Jeffries, Semi Tadulala, Simon Finnigan, Andy Lynch, Matt Cook, David Solomona, Joe Vagana, Paul Deacon, Jamie Langley, Sam Burgess.

MILESTONES
PAUL DEACON has kicked 70 goals from 83 attempts this season for an average of 84.34%.

WAYNE GODWIN needs 8 points for a career total of 300. The Hooker has scored 33 tries and kicked 80 goals in his 155 appearances.

JAMIE LANGLEY will make his 150th career appearance today. He has played 145 games for the Bulls, 1 for Gt. Britain and 3 for England. He has scored 31 tries.

SIMON FINNIGAN needs 8 points for a career total of 200. He has scored 48 tries in his 143 appearances.

News Source: www.bradfordbulls.co.uk

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