Fa'asavalu and Puletua tame Bulls (From St Helens Star)

Fa'asavalu and Puletua tame Bulls

10:23am Thursday 25th June 2009

• Print
• Email
• Share

Bradford 18 Saints 44.

SAINTS pack scored a massive psychological victory over the big Bulls six which was probably more significant than the record breaking 16th successive away win.

Although Mick Potter’s men have been going well at the top of the league, questions had been asked if Saints’ four props, depleted in the long term absence of Jason Cayless, could handle it against the bigger teams.

The three games Saints have lost this year have invariably been against sides with big, aggressive packs – and so they certainly had a score to settle after the Bulls forwards had paved the way for a shock win at Knowsley Road back in April.

Sunday’s game was a particular triumph for Tony Puletua and Maurie Fa’asavalu who worked in tandem to devastating effect off the bench, but the coach was keen to pay tribute to the dogged efforts of Bryn Hargreaves and James Graham, who in his words ‘took the shine off the ball’. There was a robust hour’s work from Jon Wilkin, who hit Bulls with everything bar the kitchen sink until he was forced off with cramp.

But the game changing effort from James Roby was the most eye-catching, with his darting runs and distribution proving to be the biggest thorn in the Bulls side.

He was not simply cropping up at hooker either, as once Keiron Cunningham returned Roby made a nuisance of himself in the back row.

The match was a lot tougher than the scores posted on the ‘It’s a knockout’ type Odsal scoreboard suggested at the end of 80 minutes.

And at one stage Saints were staring down the barrel of a 20-4 deficit. But that Bulls try was chalked off allowing Saints to counter and really rub the Bulls nose in it with some spectacular football opening up a 28-14 lead at half time.

Saints set their stall out early on when an aggressive three-man tackle forced highly rated England prop Sam Burgess into touch in the opening set of the game.

It gave Saints first crack at the line and it was duly pierced out wide when Francis Meli was the beneficiary of a fine long pass from Leon Pryce to touch down.

Pryce, understandably, received plenty of flak from home fans on his return to his former club – but he relished it with a fine display in which he showcased a more complete range of skills than he was ever permitted in all his years at Odsal.

Bradford’s response was immediate with first Glen Morrison crossing and then they took the lead with arguably the flukiest try of the year.

Deep in the Bulls half, with absolutely nothing on, a misfired pass hit the deck and appeared to travel forward and was left by a couple of Saints defenders.

Veteran Aussie centre Steve Menzies picked up and suddenly the field opened up in front of him, leaving him with the straightforward task of sending Rikki Sheriffe storming to the line.

To complete the fortuitous six-pointer Paul Deacon’s conversion went in off the post.

Bulls were in the ascendancy, largely fuelled by a heavy penalty count in their favour, but despite four penalties in a row they could not break down the Saints steely defence, opting to convert the last of those infringements.

Four minutes later, it was Saints’ turn to have a slice of luck with a high punt bamboozling Paul Wellens near the posts but Ben Jeffries knock on saw it chalked off after consultation.

It gave Saints all the encouragement they needed and they went up the other end where Roby nipped in for a try, which Kyle Eastmond goaled.

Moments later Wilkin charged over, but the referee called him back for a knock on on the say so of the touch judge.

Wilkin would not be denied for long and he was there to collect a clever kick last tackle kick from an impressive Chris Flannery, with Eastmond’s goal nudging them further ahead.

Flannery often flies under the radar – but he adds intelligence and no little steel to the Saints pack. He was rewarded for his toil with a try of his own bang on the stroke of half time after Roby had fired a pinpoint pass.

Unbelievably Saints had time for one more score before half time with Puletua’s flicked backdoor pass taking a deflection off a Bulls player before being gleefully accepted by Eastmond, whose pace did the rest. The second half was quite a war of attrition, with Paul Deacon’s clever kicking constantly making Saints bring the ball away from their own line.

Saints defence was on its mettle to keep the Bulls at bay for the third quarter – but when Semi Tadulala reduced the deficit with another four pointer, they still had a game on their hands.

It remained that way until the last ten minutes when Saints’ Samoan contingent cut loose with the unstoppable Fa’asavalu powering over to signal the end of the Bulls resistance.

Fa’asavalu was running like a man possessed and bustled through again to set up the equally powerful Puletua for a try from 30 yards out.

Just before the end Meli, who played with a lot more purpose and effort this week, added his second.

Eastmond who showed some nice touches if not completely commanding running the show, added his sixth goal to complete the rout.

How they lined up: Bradford: Halley; Sheriffe, Menzies, Nero, Tadulala; Jeffries, Deacon; Lynch, Newton, Scruton, Burgess, Morrison, Langley. Subs: Worrincy, Kopczak, Rinaldi, Whitehead.

Saints: Wellens; Gardner, Gidley, Dean; Meli; Pryce, Eastmond; Hargreaves, Cunningham, Graham, Wilkin, Gilmour, Flannery. Subs: Roby, Puletua, Clough, Fa’asavalu.

• Print
• Email
• Share