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Bulls 18 Saints 44

4:45pm Sunday 21st June 2009 in


The Bulls opened spectacularly but couldn’t last the pace against table-toppers St Helens today.

Steve McNamara’s side played some quality football to build up a 14-4 lead with tries from Glenn Morrison and Rikki Sheriffe.

But the introduction off the bench of Saints’ power men Maurie Fa’asavalu, and Tony Puletua, with James Roby’s added pace, saw the game transform and the visitors swept into a 28-14 interval lead.

The second period was a scrappy affair from both sides and, although Semi Tadulala’s 62nd minute try threatened a Bulls comeback at 28-18, mistakes crept in as they chased the game.

The visitors capitalised further and this victory saw them make it 16 straight Super League away wins, breaking the Bulls’ own record set in 1997.

Comments(9)

andy j says...
6:04pm Sun 21 Jun 09

once again gutted! we started well and went down hill when morrison went off menzies had his worst game for us i thought deacs and jeffries were poor today too. best side won they scored twice on the last tackle i texted my mate the half time score and before id sent the text they had scored again. one thing i will say is saints put seven head high tackles in during this game and i dont think one of them went on report.

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woodybenwood says...
7:08pm Sun 21 Jun 09

i think we played well to think that we were playing against the top of the league, i think we possibly tired during the game maybe becuase of the effort we put into the first half of the first half and then that cost us, also some very bad refereeing decisions cost us vital points and a clear sending off that the ref did not have the balls to carry out.
i think some possitives to take out of that game from bulls point of view from the rfl's point of view they were again shown up by a bad refereeing performance

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TEX says...
7:20pm Sun 21 Jun 09

great effort from the boys, but were beaten by one of the dirtiest saints team for years. Thaler was very weak and played into saints' hands

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bullinrhinoland says...
8:04pm Sun 21 Jun 09

Poor Halley. Just signed a two-year deal and then he gets trampled by the Saints. His game reflected the fortunes of the whole team. He was plucky, brave and hard-working. He ran the ball up well. But when the Saints got into their stride, their big players just ran through him and over him. He looked like one of the little lads who play at half time, who has wandered into an adults' game. The Saints were too big, too fast, too skilful and too powerful for him.

Thus with the whole team. For about 30 minutes they really gave us a game. The Bulls played hard and with skill. It was exciting and took us back a few years when we had first class players and coaches. Then the Saints started playing and were far too fast, skilful and powerful. Bulls fans - don't blame the referee, he had a good game. Face reality, Saints are now in a different class - or at least we are. And on Friday it's the Rhinos. Pity poor Halley. Pity poor Bradford.

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pjbull says...
8:19pm Sun 21 Jun 09

Agree with a few of the comments. Great for 25 mins but made to look ordinary after that. Once again, and it has probably happened more than half-a-dozen times this season, the Bulls collapsed for a 15 minute spell and leaked a raft of points. The ref was poor (though that's not an excuse). In a TV game, he would have sin-binned a Saints player as the number of penalties they conceded was ridiculous. (There were at least 5 occasions when he blew for a head-high tackle, spoke to the player and captain and took no action). Can't understand Maccas thinking in the first half - we take a tap penalty on 20 metres, then retain possession (through penalties) for about 20 more tackles (surely Saints are tiring at this point) and then he opts for 2 points.
Sad to say this folks, but I hope the Bulls don't renew Morrison's contract - great player though he has been, we can't afford to keep injury-prone players on the books. Finally from me, Deacs is passed-it and Jeffries clearly not up to it. Those two at half-back compared to Wilkin and Pryce for Saints tells you a lot about the difference in defensive qualities between the teams. (As well as with ball in hand).

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haitch says...
8:59pm Sun 21 Jun 09

Well folks, I listened to it and was jumping up and down in the first half hour. It seems there was plenty of effort but they were just not good enough to beat a side, seemingly immune to the salary cap and studded with stars even on the bench.

They were camped on the Saints line for a number of sets but it seems they have no one capable of unlocking a tight defence.

All we can ask for is effort and I would much prefer a performance like that than the ones they had against Celtic, HKR Giants etc.

I suspect a similar effort and result may be on the cards for Friday and untill some class Halves and at least one strike Centre is found that's how it's likely to be, against the stronger sides. Lets hope their heads don't go down again.

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oddshapedballs says...
9:14pm Sun 21 Jun 09

It wasn't Thalers fault. Yes there were opportunities to sin bin a player due to the torrent of head highs etc but he penalised every one and didn't really miss any. Thought Eastmond was lucky to stay on though. Didn't think he had it in him.

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Steve Mac for the Sack says...
9:42pm Sun 21 Jun 09

Very dissapointing. It's about time Deacon gave it up. He copuldnt open a lock with a key never mind a super league defence.

A good start, but we never looked in the game after 20 mins.

If we can win on Friday then we'll have done well out of a difficult 3 week period, if not then the pressure will be really on, because we can afford many more losses.

It's all about results now, not performance.

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Gumshoe says...
8:52am Mon 22 Jun 09

pjbull wrote:
Agree with a few of the comments. Great for 25 mins but made to look ordinary after that. Once again, and it has probably happened more than half-a-dozen times this season, the Bulls collapsed for a 15 minute spell and leaked a raft of points. The ref was poor (though that's not an excuse). In a TV game, he would have sin-binned a Saints player as the number of penalties they conceded was ridiculous. (There were at least 5 occasions when he blew for a head-high tackle, spoke to the player and captain and took no action). Can't understand Maccas thinking in the first half - we take a tap penalty on 20 metres, then retain possession (through penalties) for about 20 more tackles (surely Saints are tiring at this point) and then he opts for 2 points. Sad to say this folks, but I hope the Bulls don't renew Morrison's contract - great player though he has been, we can't afford to keep injury-prone players on the books. Finally from me, Deacs is passed-it and Jeffries clearly not up to it. Those two at half-back compared to Wilkin and Pryce for Saints tells you a lot about the difference in defensive qualities between the teams. (As well as with ball in hand).
Have to disagree about Morro, he isnt injury prone, he was injured by Wiklin going in late with knees, again let go by Thaler who gave one of the most inept and biased ref performances for at least a week, he also missed the flop on Rinaldi. He chalked off a perfectly good try for us after chatting for an age with touch judge who was unsighted by post, at other end he never conferred once!
Halley had a nightmare but I thought our forwards had a good game, we just couldnt handle Puletua breaking line.

Hats off to young Whitehead who again had a good game.

Heads up for Friday and lets hope we get an even ref....

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