Triumphant Bradford go from terrible to formida-Bull (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Bradford Bulls defence snowed under but they refuse to melt under Castleford pressure

7:50am Monday 13th February 2012 in Bulls By Ross Heppenstall

Castleford Tigers 12 Bradford Bulls 20

What a difference a week makes.

Seven days after their horror show against Catalan Dragons, the Bulls found the perfect response at a snowbound PROBIZ Coliseum yesterday.

They answered the doubters who questioned their stomach for the fight and showed no little character to eke out victory in truly awful conditions.

A bitterly cold afternoon in Castleford can test the soul. You need spirit. You need togetherness. You have to be to be able to call on a collective desire.

The Bulls showed all these qualities and more to repel wave after wave of home attacks and conjure three scores of their own.

Jarrod Sammut, who dovetailed effectively with Luke Gale – the team’s creative fulcrum who constantly showcased his outstanding kicking game yesterday – touched down in the early exchanges.

Tom Burgess capped a fine display with a try on the stroke of half-time and the effervescent Brett Kearney, who was all things to Bradford yesterday, got the score he deserved late on.

“Yes, it does make a big difference a week doesn’t it?” reflected Potter with a smile in the post-match press conference.

Moments earlier, Tigers coach Ian Millward had spoken honestly about how the Bulls deserved their victory.

“I thought Bradford were the better team,” he admitted.

The only negatives were injuries to James Donaldson and Adrian Purtell, but the Bulls are up and running ahead of this weekend’s clash with Wigan.

The return of Elliott Whitehead after a lengthy ban was a massive boost yesterday.

The homegrown second-rower looked like a man determined to make up for lost time, tearing into tackles from the off.

He almost scored in the fourth minute when some meticulous dummy running from Matt Diskin found Gale deep in Tigers territory.

Gale spotted Whitehead advancing forward at pace but, just when the 22-year-old looked destined to cross the line, a fine last-ditch tackle from a Castleford defender denied him.

Gale quickly shone for Bradford with some intelligent kicking and artful handling, and in the sixth minute his clever scooped pass almost sent Purtell clear.

Purtell’s physicality continued to come to the fore inside the right channel, but when the Bulls opened the scoring in the tenth minute it was textbook in its simplicity.

A high hanging kick from Gale was expertly fielded by Kearney, who caught the ball and ushered Sammut over the line from close range.

Sammut celebrated with a punch of the air and Gale added the extras.

The early score seemed to pour confidence into Potter’s men, and it was not until the 15th minute that Castleford actually woke up.

They enjoyed a period of pressure on the Bulls’ line, culminating in Rangi Chase’s grubber kick hitting a post before the danger was cleared.

There continued to be nervy moments as the hosts, inspired by the intricate probings of Chase and half-back partner Danny Orr, asked questions of the Bradford defence. Admirably, every one was answered during the first half.

True, there were more than a few close calls, but desire held the key for Potter’s players.

They put their bodies on the line as Chase and Orr ran at them time and again but not once did they buckle during the opening 40 minutes.

Whitehead even managed to intercept an over-ambitious pass from a Tigers player and almost managed to send Elliot Kear clear.

When Castleford full back Richard Owen did superbly well to catch another bomb from Gale, it was heartening to see a clutch of Bulls players on top of him, forcing him back towards his in-goal area.

As the half-hour mark approached, Chase came increasingly to the fore, showing the kind of quality and confidence that earned him the Man of Steel title and an England call-up last year.

Yet moments later, the Bulls conjured the best move of the game so far.

Donaldson, on for Jamie Langley, embarked on a powerful run from inside his own half before showing intelligence to find Whitehead in support to his right.

Whitehead similarly had support to his right shoulder in the form of Kear, who chose to hack the ball forward rather than backing himself to outpace the home defence.

It was an opportunity lost, and a costly piece of play as Donaldson was caught heavily in the tackle earlier in the move, sustaining a knee injury which required him to be helped from the field and replaced by Langley.

Chase was consistently at the heart of all Castleford’s most promising attacks, but a combination of poor handling and some dogged defending kept them at bay.

The Bulls, having survived their latest spell of pressure, hit their hosts with a vicious sucker-punch on the stroke of half-time when Langley’s delicate pass sent Burgess crashing over from close range.

Gale added the simplest of conversions and Bradford were left with a 12-0 interval lead, although Purtell did not re-emerge after succumbing to injury.

Could they see out the second half?

Ten minutes after the restart, Castleford hit back when a deft handling sequence saw the Bulls stretched to breaking point as Ryan McGoldrick’s pass put Josh Griffin in at the right corner.

Now this was a test.

Five minutes later, though, the Bulls came within inches of a third try when Sammut, Kearney and Whitehead combined to find Jason Crookes in the left corner.

A combination of Orr and Griffin sent him sliding into touch and the momentum was soon with Castleford again.

They pummelled the visitors’ line but could not find a way through.

The pressure mounted in the 57th minute when L’Estrange was sinbinned for holding down.

With 14 minutes remaining, Diskin almost burrowed over from dummy half and from that set Tigers prop Jake Emmitt was caught offside and shown a yellow card.

Gale kicked the resultant penalty from under the posts to leave Bradford 14-6 in front.

With time running out, Bradford hit Castleford with another well-worked score which saw Kearney power clear, and Gale’s boot proved trusty again.

Castleford replied late on when Owen went over, and Dixon converted, but the Bulls had the points in the bag by then.

Cloud nine? Bradford are there but the trick is to stay there.