Controversial finale to Headingley humdinger (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Controversial finale to Headingley humdinger

6:10am Saturday 27th June 2009 in

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Leeds 33 Bulls 20

The Bulls fell just short of claiming a rare double over Leeds Rhinos last night.

The scoreline may suggest otherwise but Bradford came agonisingly close to beating the champions for a second time this season.

Debate will still be going on this morning as to whether Rikki Sheriffe did get over in the corner in the last dramatic few minutes of another pulsating contest between these two great rivals.

As it was, with Leeds 26-20 in front and no Sky TV to give us a definitive answer, the touch judge immediately waved it away and the hosts went down the other end to finish the contest.

Bradford deserved more though and – like against St Helens last week – they will be ruing a few simple lapses in concentration.

Although they got off to a quick start, with Paul Deacon hitting a first-minute penalty, it was all Leeds in the opening quarter as new England winger Ryan Hall struck twice in just four minutes.

Semi Tadulala could only knock a kick to the corner into touch and in the next set, Hall nipped over after Keith Senior had bumped off Ben Jeffries.

Jeffries had hauled down Danny McGuire as he sped through while Jamie Langley denied Rob Burrow as the England scrum half tried to step through but there was no stopping Hall.

Super League’s top try-scorer took his tally for the season to 19 when he got in on another raid soon after, this time Brent Webb getting on the outside of Jeffries to open the Bulls’ right side once more, Senior providing the link.

That try came after Sam Burgess had coughed up possession following a big tackle from Kylie Leuluai coming out of his own 20 and needless errors continued to hurt the visitors.

They struggled to get to the kick and took poor last play options – Chris Nero forced into passing forward to Langley after being put under pressure by Terry Newton’s poor delivery.

When they did gain some territory courtesy of some ill-discipline from Leeds, they couldn’t make the most of it.

Bradford had three back-to-back sets on the Leeds line as the home side continued to offend but, despite Langley barging close, they couldn’t get over and Paul Sykes knocked on to see the chance gone.

Leeds showed them how it is done though as they ruthlessly cut Bradford open at the next opportunity.

They had forced two drop-outs and in the third set the visitors broke.

Burrow’s brilliance kidded the defence as he shaped to pass wide but then sent Jamie-Jones Buchanan bursting past a fooled Deacon from 20 metres out.

Kevin Sinfield added his second conversion to make it 16-2 and the signs looked ominous for Steve McNamara’s men.

But a magical try from Tadulala lifted their spirits and got them right back in it.

The Fijian took possession of Jeffries’ long pass on the last right out on his left touchline but then weaved across field before straightening up and darting over only 20 metres from the right.

The introduction of Craig Kopczak and Mike Worrincy brought more impact too and the visitors finally started to get to the end of their sets.

Deacon put in some good downfield kicks into space, as did Sykes, to make the Leeds back three turn and work out of their own 20.

Jeffries then hoisted a crossfield kick that Tadulala palmed down for Nero, who looked destined to get over.

However, McGuire – not normally known for his defensive skills – managed to wrap the centre up with a fine tackle.

An Andy Lynch off-load then almost got Deacon clear as the Bulls started finding some fluency but there was no finish.

A quick Worrincy play-the-ball allowed Jeffries to shoot blind out of dummy half and Nero had the beating of McGuire, only to see the ball squirm out of his grasp.

Then, when Bulls tried to go wide from deep, Tadulala received possession in front of Nero when space had been created.

They were then caught offside and, with just seconds remaining, Sinfield kicked two points to send the champions in at 18-8.

Leeds started the second half just as the Bulls did the first; Sinfield’s kick-off bounced out into touch like Deacon’s did and soon after Webb was dancing his way to the line. Deacon scrambled desperately though and, along with Kopczak, just held the Kiwi short.

Menzies then brilliantly pushed Ali Lauitiiti back over the try-line after the big second-rower had eluded Matt Cook and seemed certain to score.

They then rode their luck when the powerful Senior surged clear but Hall couldn’t take his pass and bombed his chance of a hat-trick.

A high tackle on Sam Burgess finally saw Bradford get down into the Leeds half and it was Deacon who silenced the Headingley crowd by dummying over from acting half, all too easily reaching the whitewash.

He slotted the extras to make it 18-14 and then Worrincy’s clever tip-off saw Tadulala race clear.

The winger cut inside when maybe he should have gone for the line but it didn’t matter.

Dave Halley got on the outside of the Leeds defence to accelerate through down the other flank and, although Burrow dragged him down, it only delayed the inevitable.

Deacon instigated a class score in the next play, putting on a slick run-around with Langley before slipping Nick Scruton through into space against his former club.

As ever, Menzies was on the prop’s shoulder to chalk up his 12th try of the year and Deacon’s conversion put them in front for the first time since the fifth minute.

However, Sam Burgess spilled in the restart set, handing Leeds back possession.

Newton launched into Jamie Peacock with a high tackle under the posts and Sinfield took the two to level.

Bradford had a swift chance to retake the lead when McGuire was deemed to have interfered with Lynch at the play-the-ball but Deacon’s kick sailed narrowly wide.

Hall returned it out from behind his own line and set off on a mesmerising 40-metre run which was only ended when Sykes finally nailed him. But Sam Burgess followed up and was harshly penalised for a flop.

In the next set, Burrow turned on the magic again, stepping inside Worrincy and then speeding to the whitewash, just evading Halley’s desperate last-ditch grab.

Sinfield kicked again but, leading 26-20, the Leeds skipper knew too many of these games have been nicked in the past at the death – by both sides – to leave anything to chance.

He went for a drop kick attempt which bounced back off a post into Worrincy’s hands and another effort went wide, with Leeds obviously realising Bradford were still in striking distance.

Bulls thought they had struck back when Halley and Menzies sent Sheriffe flying to the corner for that chance but Burrow just did enough to send the winger into the flag before he touched down.

Furious Halley harassed the touch judge, who didn’t think twice, and Leeds went back up field for Lee Smith to finally get the one point they wanted, and then Scott Donald finished off a break down the middle by Lauitiiti in the dying seconds to rub salt into the wounds.