Bulls 56 Dewsbury Rams 18

THE Bulls produced a stunning second-half display to blow away West Yorkshire neighbours Dewsbury Rams.

Trailing 14-12 at the interval, Bradford looked in real danger of slipping up against a club who have yet to pick up a single point.

But a half-time dressing down from the club's coaching staff sparked a barn-storming revival that had Odsal bouncing.

The Bulls ran in 44 unanswered points after the break and played rugby that would have been a match for any team in the Kingstone Press Championship.

The final score was a justifiable reward for their efforts and will also have delivered a psychological blow to the Rams – who, of course, would be bottom of the table had the Bulls not been docked 12 points by the Rugby Football League following their financial woes.

The Rams had started the season with five consecutive league defeats and Glenn Morrison's side had not even managed to score a try in their previous two away games.

Yet buoyed by a 36-8 victory in the Challenge Cup last weekend against League One side Newcastle Thunder, they stunned the Bulls by taking the lead after just four minutes.

Jason Crookes caught a chip over over the backs from Andy Kain and crossed the line, with Paul Sykes completing the conversion.

It was an early wake-up call for the hosts, who should have equalised soon after when Dale Morton dropped a high ball into the danger-zone from Jordan Lilley. However, they failed to take the opportunity from the resulting scrum.

They were back on level terms when Daniel Murray found a hole in the Rams defence and offloaded to Brandan Wilkinson, who dived over. Joe Keyes converted from just to the left of the posts.

Dewsbury regained the lead on 17 minutes when referee Gareth Hewer awarded a penalty for a high tackle and Sykes tucked the ball between the posts.

The visitors could easily have increased the lead at this stage but Jack Teanby was stopped inches short of the line by a quartet of Bulls defenders, while another cross-field kick by Kain sailed narrowly beyond the reach of team-mate Morton.

Prop Murray then scored his first try for the Bulls to help settle the nerves, with Keyes' goal taking the score to 12-8.

But the Bulls were still struggling to find fluidity and an error on halfway surrendered possession, allowing the Rams to take the interval lead. James Glover crashed in at the corner after some swift passes and Sykes added his third goal of the afternoon.

By the start of the second half, the Bulls had made six errors, which illustrated an area for improvement.

With coach Geoff Toovey still not 'officially' allowed to take charge, Academy coach Leigh Beattie acted as stand-in coach for the seventh competitive game.

Winger Omari Caro was back for the first time since damaging ankle ligaments in pre-season, Lee Smith returned after missing the Challenge Cup with a knock and the Bulls had also been boosted by the return of loanees Murray, Kevin Larroyer, Lilley and Joshua Jordan-Roberts.

Captain Leon Pryce, however, was ruled out with illness and prop Mikolaj Oledzki was not available, having played for parent club Leeds Rhinos against the Bulls Under-19s. James Mendeika, Oscar Thomas, James Bentley and Ross Peltier were all ruled out by injury.

The Rams briefly started the brighter after the interval as well and continued to benefit from unnecessary mistakes.

For a short period, the pressure was starting to look too much for the Bulls, who conceded a third try when Kain's cross-field kick was palmed down by Barnes and Brown fell onto the loose ball near the flag. Sykes missed his first kick from four attempts and it proved a turning point.

The Bulls now needed inspiration and stand-off Keyes produced a clever dummy and pass to set up Caro for his first try of the campaign. Keyes was unable to add the extras but the Bulls took the lead from the restart and never looked back.

Johnny Campbell started the advance and Ilies Macani showed terrific pace to sprint 90 metres down the flank and over the line. Keyes added his third goal and, with a 22-18 lead, the pendulum was now swinging firmly in the Bulls' favour.

They bagged a third try in the space of four minutes to really turn the screw. Smith knocked a perfectly-weighted short kick to the corner and Macani got a hand on the ball just before it went out of play.

It resulted in the hardest kick of the afternoon for Keyes but, buoyed by the forward momentum, he delivered the goods in fine style. The Bulls now had a 28-18 lead and were riding the crest of the wave.

Smith claimed a try of of his own after a pass from Lilley and the floodgates had now opened. Keyes missed the kick this time but it was 32-18 and the Rams looked beaten.

If proof were needed that this would be Bradford's day, it came when a tackle from Keyes forced a knock-on after the Rams had gone under the posts.

Jon Magrin underlined the Bulls' superiority with a try 11 minutes from time and Keyes kicked the conversion to give his side a 38-18 lead.

Colton Roche got on the scoresheet with a try and Lilley put the icing on the cake with a successful conversion.

The Rams were now at sixes and sevens and Magrin took advantage of wide-open defending to go over before Caro converted to make it 50-18.

Ross Oakes completed the second-half avalanche in the dying seconds after Ethan Ryan had batted down a deft chip to the corner by Keyes.

The Bulls now move on to back-to-back fixtures against two other teams who are likely to be in the relegation scrap this season – Oldham and Sheffield. Victories in those will ensure they finally move out of the negative.