No Shield of dreams as Bradford Bulls run dwarfed by Leigh success

ANOTHER match against part-time opposition, another five tries conceded and ultimately another scrappy victory for the Bulls.

The Championship Shield is a million miles away from where Bradford supporters want their team to be.

That cannot be denied, but Rohan Smith’s men at least remain on course to win the club’s first piece of silverware since claiming the World Club Challenge in 2006.

The Bulls were officially the best team in the world after beating Wests Tigers on that memorable night in Huddersfield.

The Championship Shield can never compensate for those halcyon days but it will at least give Smith’s side the rarefied taste of success.

Not even that will mask the failure at Odsal this season, especially on a weekend when rivals Leigh took a huge step towards Super League promotion.

This time last year, the Bulls were neck and neck with the Centurions as they fought it out for top spot in the Championship before heading into the middle eights.

Neither side got promoted, of course, but the way Leigh have progressed this year, putting themselves on the brink of a return to the promised land, and the manner in which Bradford have gone backwards, has been quite staggering.

Leigh won at Hull KR on Saturday to claim their fourth win from four games in the Qualifiers and move tantalisingly close to promotion.

They have showed what can be achieved with ambitious recruitment, a passionate owner, and a well-motivated group of players.

What happened in East Yorkshire during the televised match will not be lost on Bulls chairman Marc Green or indeed any Bradford supporter.

It remains to be seen how long Green will remain in position as talk of a change of ownership continues to swirl around Odsal.

“Off the field, we are busy developing the foundations for next season,” wrote Green in his programme notes for yesterday’s game.

The Bulls are gearing up for their third campaign in the second tier since Green took control and what can be said is that the supporters have stayed loyal. Very loyal.

A crowd of over 4,000 turned up yesterday and Swinton, who still have the threat of relegation hanging over them, proved game, if ultimately outclassed, opponents.

What was heartening for Bradford was the fact that homegrown winger Ethan Ryan scored a superbly-executed hat-trick, underlining his talent as he looks to make the left-wing spot his own.

Ben Kavanagh marked his 200th career appearance with a try and Jay Pitts continued his recent impressive run of scoring form, touching down for his sixth try in his last four games, while Adam O’Brien weighed in with a brace.

But in truth it was a largely scrappy affair marred by the first-half dismissal of Bulls second-rower Kurt Haggerty, who was shown a red card for fighting with Andy Thornley, who was only sin-binned.

There were also sin-binnings for Stuart Littler and Kris Welham either side of half-time and Bradford saw their line breached five times.

Indeed, early in the second half and with Bradford down to 11 men with Welham in the sinbin, Swinton scored two tries in quick succession.

That made it 28-18 and gave the Lions hope of a famous fightback, but their optimism was quickly doused as Dane Chisholm and Ryan scored superb individual efforts from distance to put the game to bed.

There is a settled feel to the Bulls right now, despite the fact that half of the current side are leaving, and this was their fifth straight Championship Shield win.

The Bulls began brightly in the later summer sunshine and, on the back of a couple of early penalties, O'Brien scooted over the line from close range to open the scoring in the tenth minute.

That followed a yellow card for Littler moments earlier, with the veteran centre having voiced his disapproval at referee Tom Crashley's decision to award a penalty against Swinton for interference at the play-the-ball.

It set the tone for a niggly encounter which saw the Bulls struggle to make their superior class pay.

Chisholm kicked out on the full from a goal-line drop-out at the expense of a penalty.

Swinton full back Mike Butt and half-backs Ben White and Chris Atkin always looked capable of posing Bradford plenty of problems from an attacking perspective and so it later proved.

But Swinton's ill discipline continued to undermine them and, on the back of another penalty, some slick handling culminated in Haggerty and Welham combining to send Ryan over for his first try of the match in the left corner.

Yet the visitors continued to look dangerous with the ball in hand and winger Liam Marshall narrowly failed to ground Atkin's clever grubber kick in the left corner.

Kieren Moss then burst clear from O'Brien's smart pass but Shaun Robinson did well to haul down the full back just short of the line.

Bradford kept pressing and moments later Pitts latched onto Addy's deft pass to cross the line inside the right channel.

Keyes added his second conversion to make it 16-0 and Addy almost got on the scoresheet when he drove at the heart of the Swinton defence but narrowly failed to ground the ball.

The Bulls' fourth try arrived in the 28th minute when a kick from Keyes was spilled by a Swinton defender and O'Brien was on hand to collect Pitts’ pass and scarper over the line.

Keyes' third goal from four attempts made it 22-0 but, as the interval approached, Swinton forward Josh Barlow was tackled.

Barlow, a Halifax lad who is well acquainted with several of the Bulls players, was clearly up for the fight after entering the fray but tempers frayed elsewhere as a brawl developed which led to Haggerty seeing red for an apparent headbutt and Thornley copping a yellow, also for fighting.

From the subsequent penalty awarded against Bradford, centre Macauley Hallett immediately raced over in the left corner and Atkin's conversion made it 22-6 at the break.

Shortly after the restart, Kavanagh barrelled under the sticks from close range to mark his career milestone in style.

But Welham was sin-binned for dissent towards Crashley and Swinton soon scored again through White, who scampered over and Atkin's conversion made it 28-12.

Swinton then struck again through Atkin and it was converted to make it 28-18.

But Chisholm soon intercepted an errant pass from Jake Emmitt and raced 40 metres to score.

Moments later, Ryan showed outstanding speed to break clear down the left flank and claim a superb effort.

But the Bulls' defensive frailties were exposed once again when Hallett caught and grounded in the left corner from Atkin's crossfield kick.

Moss then took a facial injury and was withdrawn in a switch which saw Chisholm moved to full back with Addy going into the halves alongside Keyes.

Swinton scored again through Butt and Atkin's conversion made it 40-28 with ten minutes remaining.

That would have seen the visitors outscore Bradford in the second half but Ryan then raced clear from another interception late on and Keyes booted his seventh goal.