Match Report: Bradford Bulls 4 St Helens 66
Posted by BB on November 23 2005 17:58:27

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Posted by BB on June 05 2005 - 21:36:12



Report courtesy of Superleague.co.uk:

Saints started the brighter of the two sides and it was no surprise when they opened the scoring after three minutes.
A penalty for offside allowed them to move downfield and after Keiron Cunningham fed Vinnie Anderson, the Kiwi was left with the simple task of sending Wilkin into a gaping hole to score at the right of the posts.
Sean Long converted but it was his kicking in open play which was causing the Bulls most concern.
Facing his Great Britain scrum-half rival Paul Deacon had obviously stirred Long and after two imperious kicks had forced goal-line dropouts, Saints went in for their second try.
Cunningham produced a perfect looped pass from dummy half and Vinnie Anderson was allowed to collect the ball high and cruise in to touch down. Long again added the goal.
Bradford hit back briefly after the Harris’ - Iestyn and Ben - combined to send Stuart Reardon in at the corner.
But any serious hopes of a revival were crushed in the 28th minute when Pryce became only the third Super League player to be sent off this season.
His reckless swing at Jamie Lyon left referee Ronnie Laughton with no choice but to dismiss the centre for the third time in his career.
And although the numerical balance was redressed temporarily by Willie Talau’s sin binning for infringement, Saints made light of this by scoring a try either side of the incident.
First Maurie Fa’asavalu sent Lee Gilmour in for a score against his old club and then on the stroke of half-time Darren Albert’s pass sent Wilkin streaking clear for his second try.
Long added the extras on both occasions for a 20-point interval lead.
Saints, and Lyon in particular had no intention of taking their foot off the gas and highlighted this with four tries in the opening 15 minutes of the second period.
Lyon was involved in all four, scoring two and creating the others. First he handed Long a walk to the tryline and then his audacious dummy allowed him to break clear of the defence and score under the posts.
He then did well to collect Long’s pass and brush off Karl Pryce for his second try.
Neither Wellens nor Long fancied facing Pryce after Wellens had broke clear after a wayward Iestyn Harris pass, so it was left to Lyon to feed Vinnie Anderson for his second try of the game. Long’s failure to convert his own try was his first mistake of the game.
As the Bradford defence tired rapidly, Ade Gardner was then allowed to dive in at the corner as Saints began to run amok.
James Roby was the next in line to embarrass the home defence as he jogged 40 metres to the line. Long afforded Lyon the privilege of adding the conversion.
Coach Anderson used the last quarter to rotate his side and Wellens even spurned the opportunity of a further score when his pass hit Nick Fozzard in the face with the line beckoning.
Vinnie Anderson then secured his hat-trick when he sprinted the length of the field, out running the chasing Robbie Paul.
Gardner’s late sprint to the line underlined Saints comfort and part-time kicker Jason Hooper’s touchline goal added salt to Bradford’s wounds.

Bradford (4) 4.
Tries: Reardon.
St Helens (24) 66.
Tries: Wilkin 2, V. Anderson 3, Gilmour, Long, Lyon 2, Gardner 2, Roby. Goals: Long 7, Lyon, Hooper.