Saints » Results

Jon Wilkin saw red as Saints suffered their second defeat on the bounce with a 10-4 reverse at Bradford.

The Bulls’ Marcus St Hilaire laid the foundations in the first half but poor handling and awful weather conspired to prevent the reigning engage Superleague Champions going two clear of Leeds at the top.

But Saints will take heart from a stirring second half performance with just 12 men and could have easily snatched a draw if they had a little more composure in the final 20.

A typical Bradford evening welcomed the Saints; rainy, blowy and the Grattan Stadium pitch somewhat wet underfoot.

Francis Meli was back into the team after his calf injury with young Ste Tyrer being selected as 18^th man. Nick Fozzard swapped places with James Graham on the bench.

For the home team, Glen Morrison continued to deputise in place of injured stand off Iestyn Harris.

From the kick off Bradford were straight into Saints’ faces. On the fourth tackle Jason Cayless lost the ball in Saints’ 40, gifting possession to the Bulls. An offside penalty soon followed and Deacon slotted over.

Bradford should have extended their lead a few minutes later when Solomona broke through, but Newton took the wrong option when a simple pass to Platt would’ve brought a four pointer.

The next ten minutes was pretty turgid stuff with plenty of handling errors for both sides and the referee playing a very lean ten.

But it was the Bulls who made the best of the conditions – only to again make a hash of a great opportunity.

First, Sam Burgess broke through some poor tackling. The ball was then worked wide to St Hilaire who failed to take the options open to him - by dropping the slippery ball.

It wasn’t all Bradford though. On 18 minutes a drifting high ball by Pryce was caught by Tame Tupou under pressure from Meli.

In defence, Francis and Wello snuffed out opportunities on the right hand side. Gardner also excellently caught a superb bomb under pressure.

When the next score came, it was on the back of another Saints error. Poor handling in great field position gifted Bradford possession and two drives later, a simple chip through from Deacon was poorly defended and Marcus St Hilaire had the simplest of touch downs. Deacon added the extras.

Saints should however have hit back straightaway. Roby broke through from dummy half on the left with two of his colleagues in space on the left. With an overlap begging, Wilkin chose to hold onto the ball when he should have passed and the chance was lost.

Bradford went in eight to the good.

With the second half seconds away, you could hear Noah hammering in the nails on his latest project.

To describe the conditions as ‘torrential rain’ doesn’t really do the heavens justice for the deluge that welcomed both teams onto the pitch.

Saints needed to score first in the second half but it was the home side that threatened first – Wello fielding a cheeky kick through with an attacker on his trail.

From the resultant drop out Bradford pressured and Matty Smith expertly fielded a Newton kick through.

But after looking tackled and getting ready to play the ball, he was dragged over his own line – the referee wrongly ruling another drop out as video evidence showed. Thankfully, Saints weathered the storm and managed to spend some time in the Bradford half.

Eight minutes into the second stanza, excellent defence resulted in the ball being forced out on the Bulls’ line, with Saints picking up on the loose ball to send Meli in the corner.

But the video ref bizarrely ruled a scrum to Saints, which must have meant a double knock on that no one spotted.

On the next set of six Talau got the Saints back in touch. Pryce did the hard yards and the big Kiwi did the rest from a few yards out. Wellens just wide with the extras.

Saints had their tails up but couldn’t get within Bradford’s twenty to do the necessary damage.

Then came the turning point of the match. Midway through the half Saints’ Jon Wilkin flew in high on Matt James and with the home fans screaming for a red, the ref took advice from his touch judge and obliged. Deacon slotted over the penalty.

Saints didn’t give up though. With ten left Meli, Graham and KC drove the ball in to work some space for Matty Smith.

The half-back sent a kick over to Ade Gardner but excellent defence put him on his back over the try line in the corner. Although if the referee had gone to the video, a try would surely have been given.

On Saints next visit to the Bulls 20, Talau unluckily failed to catch a tricky reverse pass from Pryce with the line begging. James Graham also failed to handle when close to the line moments later.

But with time running out, try as they might Cunningham’s men couldn’t break down the Bulls resolute defence and the home side hung on for the win.

After the game, Daniel Anderson was scathing about the officiating calling for the end to inconsistencies that have dogged the game recently.

He made particular reference to the length of bans for on the field incidents and the number of penalties against the Saints in tonight’s game.

He said both disallowed tries should have been given.

Bradford:

Tries: St Hilaire

Goals: Deacon (3 from 3)

Saints:

Tries: Talau

Goals: Wellens (0 from 1)

Penalties:

Bradford: 6

Saints: 7

HT: 0-8

FT: 4-10

ATT: 11,214

MOM: Paul Wellens

Referee: Phil Bentham

Saints:

1. Paul Wellens; 2, Ade Gardner, 3. Matt Gidley, 4. Willie Talau, 5. Francis Meli; 6. Leon Pryce, 21. Matty Smith; 17. James Graham, 9. Keiron Cunningham (C), 10. Jason Cayless, 11. Lee Gilmour, 15. Mike Bennett 12. Jon Wilkin.

(Subs): 8. Nick Fozzard, 14. James Roby, 22. Paul Clough, 23. Maurie Fa’asavalu.

Bradford:

19. Michael Platt; 1. Marcus St Hilaire, 2. Nathan McAvoy, 3. Ben Harris, 20. Tame Tupou; 12. Glenn Morrison 7. Paul Deacon (C); 8. Joe Vagana, 9. Terry Newton, 10. Andy Lynch, 11. Chris McKenna, 26. David Solomona 13. Jamie Langley.
(Subs): 16. Ian Henderson, 18. Sam Burgess, 24, Dave Halley, 23. Matt James.

Friday 13th Jul 2007, 8:00pm Attendance: 11214
	Vs
Bradford Bulls	Vs	Saints
10		4

Results

Bradford Bulls 10 - 4 Saints

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