Bradford Bulls coach Francis Cummins offers 'no excuses' after defeat

8:00am Monday 11th February 2013 in Sport Photograph of the Author By Ross Heppenstall, Bradford Bulls Reporter

Distraught Bulls players acknowledge the travelling fans at the end of the game Distraught Bulls players acknowledge the travelling fans at the end of the game

Francis Cummins refused to use the early loss of Michael Platt as an excuse for the Bulls’ 28-12 defeat at Hull FC yesterday.

Platt suffered concussion in the act of tackling former Bulls winger Jason Crookes in the 11th minute and was replaced by Danny Addy.

At that point, the Black and Whites were already 6-0 up and it forced the Bulls into a major reshuffle.

Cummins, who admitted a handful of his players were below their best, said: “Platt suffered concussion and it was a bit worrying at the time because he was on the floor in the corner and couldn’t return.

“But we should have been better and I’m not going to use that as an excuse.

“Hull did really well early on and I thought we forced our way back up the field and had a lot of possession.

“To be fair to Hull, they scrambled really well but our decision-making wasn’t great.”

The result was a setback after the Bulls’ opening-day thumping over Wakefield as Hull fashioned an impressive response to their defeat at Leeds in round one.

Cummins remained largely upbeat, though, and credited his side for sticking with their hosts having initially been 22-0 down.

“It was not the result I wanted,” he said after second-half tries from Matty Blythe and Brett Kearney.

“I think a handful of our boys were a little bit flat and you can’t afford to be that way.

“I’ve talked about how the game can jump up at bite you on the backside if you just think that you’re going good.

“We have to earn everything we get this year and work really hard. We did work hard – our quality was just a bit down.

“We didn't always make the right decisions but I am happy with how we came back.

“One of the players has said that maybe at this time last year we would have lost by 50 points. We kept going but we need to be better against Castleford.”

* Former Bulls chief executive Ryan Duckett has landed a job as director of fundraising and partnerships at Derbyshire County Cricket Club.

Duckett, currently serving as director of rugby at Otley, was among the Bulls staff made redundant by administrator Brendan Guilfoyle last season.

Comments(32)

bully4us says...
8:25am Mon 11 Feb 13

Come on then “idiot” where is your first post of many today. If you don’t think you are the local idiot just look back at all of the posts you have done. Then show them to your family and ask them if they are proud of you. To everyone else, just laugh at him as that is what you do to fools.

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JAtkinson says...
8:35am Mon 11 Feb 13

A tough place to go and the best team won. No complaints about players' attitude and willing, which has been a bugbear for a number of seasons now, so the culture at the club has changed immeasurably and for the better. Tough times but good times ahead, I hope.

bully4us - not meaning to have a go, but our resident moron doesn't need inviting. It's really hard not to lower myself to his level but I'm really trying to. The only way he'll leave is if people ignore him - he's like an errant child or a dog that needs attention; deny him that, and he'll be off finding someone else on whom to pour out his bile (which obviously stems from a warranted self-loathing and possibly suggests some form of abuse). But, it's our comments section, so if you want to call him out, you do it. (And have I just ignored my own advice there? Duh!)

COYB!

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bartsbull says...
9:37am Mon 11 Feb 13

We tried but we were still on the bus

This will tough us up for the coming season it is a hard pace to go we made silly errors by not
playing the ball correctly

Gave to many easy balls to them
and some poor tackling

But we will learn from this we need to play as we did aainst Wakey and play to our own stengths

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cj says...
9:45am Mon 11 Feb 13

our goal line defence was woeful i'm afraid, too mny missed tackles allowing them up the field. defence out wide was no better than it was last year, and we seemed to get a little bereft of ideas as to how to break down their line.
on a possitive, our disciplin was good on the whole and i don't think silverwood was too bad, he was same for both teams. just need to shore up that defence lads.
i am disgusted with the fact that they are still charging away fans £5 more for the equivelent seat for home fans, next year i just might go into the south stand and wave a flag around among the home supporters, 26% extra is taking the pee!

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BeechwoodBull says...
9:58am Mon 11 Feb 13

Yes let not compare it to Maccas time. At least Franny spares us the "Defeat will make us stronger" c**p we used to get.

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Prycey says...
10:16am Mon 11 Feb 13

I think all sensible supporters knew not to take last week’s result as a sign of possible league positions in August. It was a bit of a reality check yesterday. We all know that we have a decent team but lack real class when we come up against the top 5 or 6 teams. I said a few weeks ago I will be happy sneaking into the top eight and I stick with that. I am not disappointed too much after yesterday as we did give them a game but showed our frailties at times and they took advantage. Money does talk in sport and at the moment we don’t have any. We should have a decent game against Cas so that is something to look forward to.

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bullybullman says...
10:37am Mon 11 Feb 13

cj wrote:
our goal line defence was woeful i'm afraid, too mny missed tackles allowing them up the field. defence out wide was no better than it was last year, and we seemed to get a little bereft of ideas as to how to break down their line.
on a possitive, our disciplin was good on the whole and i don't think silverwood was too bad, he was same for both teams. just need to shore up that defence lads.
i am disgusted with the fact that they are still charging away fans £5 more for the equivelent seat for home fans, next year i just might go into the south stand and wave a flag around among the home supporters, 26% extra is taking the pee!
Good points there cj ! We were too slow & lack any idea we panicked near the line & we were soft in defense. I though Frany had been for a master class with Mcnamara last week with the woeful tactics.

Sometimes a team can be a different side in the second half from the first but what I found strange was the game plan ( if there was one ) stayed the same.

Not good enough some of the players need to stop thinking they are super stars & play the game to the best of their ability & not worry so much about their hair in which case we would have competed.

Langley & Scruton were blowing after 5 mins but I thought Chev & Kearney were massive & certainly limited the damage. We are weak on the wings & we lack any real pace. Lots to work on this week boys ! Roll on Saturday Cas did a great job on leeds yesterday & it will be another tough encounter.

Losing to Hull at Hull was always on the cards no great shock but the way we lost was very disapointing.

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wembley bound says...
10:48am Mon 11 Feb 13

Pop , what's that I hear is it a bubble bursting and the so called fans turning ?

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fraternise says...
11:20am Mon 11 Feb 13

wembley bound wrote:
Pop , what's that I hear is it a bubble bursting and the so called fans turning ?
The one thing not mentioned by the majority of posters was that the game was at least competitive.Given the highs and lows of a defeat, the consolation is we turned up and played in a cauldron of partisan supporters, and didn't disgrace ourselves, as all games often go ,
the bounce of the Ball could have led us to victory, probably not deserved as Hull were the team with ascendancy that is expected on the Home ground.
The acid test will be cas. next week when we have home advantage.

All in all not too disappointing, but when winning is the only way to guarantee success in sport, we need to get the balance right and at least win most of our Home games.

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wembley bound says...
11:37am Mon 11 Feb 13

Cas by 16

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fraternise says...
12:01pm Mon 11 Feb 13

wembley bound wrote:
Cas by 16
The crystal ball is being aired...and we thought he hadn't any???

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wembley bound says...
12:29pm Mon 11 Feb 13

Only 4 points out last week , You got the balls to predict son ?

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nosher says...
1:04pm Mon 11 Feb 13

Come on guys, stop responding to the troll. COYB

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wembley bound says...
1:23pm Mon 11 Feb 13

Give it a rest viking you are getting tiresome.

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barbarian mike says...
1:56pm Mon 11 Feb 13

Bulls will sneak a win against Cas! Also looks like Chase could get a ban judging by the response pundits gave when they saw his tackle on Hardaker, but will see!
It's early days in the season and all the teams will improve as the season goes on, so let's not be too downbeat. Remember we are still recovering from a nightmare season last time around! The team will be ok, and its already been said, they will learn from this and become s stronger unit! COYB

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Parz says...
2:25pm Mon 11 Feb 13

What did Chase do? I missed the highlights last night.

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wembley bound says...
2:35pm Mon 11 Feb 13

Thought you knew everything ?

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wembley bound says...
2:35pm Mon 11 Feb 13

Thought you knew everything ?

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Wipsi says...
4:57pm Mon 11 Feb 13

wembley bound wrote:
Thought you knew everything ?
Woof woof.

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Solomon Grundy says...
5:09pm Mon 11 Feb 13

Let's not get too downbeat - after the opening round where Hull got embarrassed I fancied them to step up significantly on their first showing at home. It's a reality check for us but actually it's a loss without being being a terrible tonking either.

Just like Hull last week, we need to bounce back against Cas side who will be feeling good.

COYB!!

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billybobbull says...
5:41pm Mon 11 Feb 13

As ever, I go back to what Peter Fox would say. ' tha learns more a loss than tha dus from a win'.

We will be better for the loss as long as we learn, and something tells me FC is a learner.
Let's not panic!

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spanglishbull.uk says...
6:19pm Mon 11 Feb 13

Wembley bound obviously knows nothing. City2-1,Bulls to lose by 20. Wrong on both counts.In fact when is he ever right with his predictions.

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axlef1963 says...
7:43pm Mon 11 Feb 13

have nt seen any bubbles this season,dont do predictions as have nt seen mystic meg for a few years.any body with a brain cell knew this year was going to be a tough one.as a true supporter all you need is for the team to give 100 percent and the rest will take care of itself.as for city i wish them all the best and do yorkshire proud.ps marching on together

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barbarian mike says...
8:00pm Mon 11 Feb 13

Parz wrote:
What did Chase do? I missed the highlights last night.
he's done a shoulder charge again which has gone head high and knocked Hardaker clean out! Not too different from the one on the Featherstone player last season....not quite as bad but looks like he may be lucky to escape a ban!!

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barbarian mike says...
8:00pm Mon 11 Feb 13

Parz wrote:
What did Chase do? I missed the highlights last night.
he's done a shoulder charge again which has gone head high and knocked Hardaker clean out! Not too different from the one on the Featherstone player last season....not quite as bad but looks like he may be lucky to escape a ban!!

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Parz says...
9:24pm Mon 11 Feb 13

barbarian mike wrote:
Parz wrote:
What did Chase do? I missed the highlights last night.
he's done a shoulder charge again which has gone head high and knocked Hardaker clean out! Not too different from the one on the Featherstone player last season....not quite as bad but looks like he may be lucky to escape a ban!!
Yeah I've just seen it. It wasn't as bad as the one on Tangi Ropati last year, but its the same situation. He's lost his rag because he didn't get the penalty and took it out on Hardaker. Should have been a red, should be a ban. I doubt it'll be 3 games like last year though.

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wembley bound says...
10:10pm Mon 11 Feb 13

spanglishbull.uk wrote:
Wembley bound obviously knows nothing. City2-1,Bulls to lose by 20. Wrong on both counts.In fact when is he ever right with his predictions.
Bulls to lose by 20 , They lost by 16 after scoring at the end so not far off.
City to win 2-1 is for the final which has not taken place yet so you look a bit of a Richard head now don't you viking ?

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Wipsi says...
10:29pm Mon 11 Feb 13

wembley bound wrote:
spanglishbull.uk wrote: Wembley bound obviously knows nothing. City2-1,Bulls to lose by 20. Wrong on both counts.In fact when is he ever right with his predictions.
Bulls to lose by 20 , They lost by 16 after scoring at the end so not far off. City to win 2-1 is for the final which has not taken place yet so you look a bit of a Richard head now don't you viking ?
The poodle has got out again,if its been chipped someone will bring it back home again,thank goodness its not been chipped,sorry thats an insult to poodles, they have more savvy than womble blend.

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spanglishbull.uk says...
2:56pm Tue 12 Feb 13

No Wembley, 2-1 for city was for Saturday v Gillingham.Even a nobody like you would make a prediction for City when there was still three games to play before Wembley.

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wembley bound says...
9:40pm Tue 12 Feb 13

So Spanish viking telling me what I predicted now ?
Er thanks for that and don't forget to spend this countries cold weather payment wisely.

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spanglishbull.uk says...
10:01am Wed 13 Feb 13

How do I apply for that Dumbo,and will I get enough to heat my new swimming pool.

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wembley bound says...
2:20pm Wed 13 Feb 13

Keep to issues in the country you live, You think that much of Bradford you left so really you are not worth conversing with,Billy jumpship

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