FURIOUS Jimmy Lowes ripped into the Bulls after the Championship loss that cost them any hope of landing top spot.

The coach laid into his players following their 32-30 defeat against third-placed Sheffield at the Keepmoat.

Lowes also voiced his fury about the handling of referee Chris Leatherbarrow as the stumbling Bulls lost for the second time in three games.

The damage was done in the first 40 minutes as the Eagles led 22-6 at the break – and added another try soon after before the visitors finally got into gear.

Lowes blasted: "We were rubbish. The first half was a disgrace.

"But I'm also pretty sick of not having games reffed the same for both sides. I've had a gutful of it.

"I've got clips ready to show anybody from the RFL. I'm getting a bit sick to the stomach of the officials.

"We get penalties against us but when the opposition do the same things, why aren't we getting penalties?

"But apart from that, we were rubbish."

Lowes, who is likely to get hit in the pocket for his criticism of Leatherbarrow, took no consolation from a spirited last 20 minutes which left the Eagles clinging on for the victory.

He said: "I don't care about that. We lost, end of story – it doesn't matter about fightbacks. We lost as a result of the first half.

"We were poor. We didn't have the energy to do anything. We kept giving Sheffield some pretty average turn-overs.

"I'm not interested in stats. What do you get from that? I know we dropped too much ball. I don't care how many sets you complete.

"Play two, drop the ball, play two, drop the ball, play two, penalty for something in the ruck – don't talk about stats. I know what the problem is."

Jake Mullaney also faces another spell on the sidelines after the Australian appeared to pull his hamstring when he scored his third try.

Lowes said: "We don't know the full extent of it but it doesn't look good for him. It's a shame because he was just starting to get a little bit of match fitness."

Lowes' harsh verdict was echoed by the players.

Captain Chev Walker admitted: "We were a shambles in the first half."

And centre Matty Blythe added: "I feel the same. There have been a few times this year when we haven't started off like we should do and against teams like Sheffield, they'll punish you for that."