Burgess blasts Bulls to victory

10:14pm Friday 4th April 2008

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Hull FC 8, Bulls 24

Sam Burgess rose from his sick bed to help catapult the hard-grafting Bulls up to second in the Super League table.

The Great Britain star did not train yesterday after being laid low by a bug that had hit the camp.

He and Wayne Godwin were major doubts for tonight's match but, with six players already missing, both stepped up to do their bit and make it five wins in six for Steve McNamara's resurgent side.

With the scores locked at 8-8 going into the final quarter, a storming Burgess break helped set up a decisive try for Matt Cook.

Then Super League's young player of the year showed some magic to get Semi Tadulala over in the corner on 67 minutes, before making sure with a try of his own two minutes from time.

Bradford were well pleased going in level 6-6 at the break. They played mistake-free rugby and completed their sets with efficiency but never had the field position Hull enjoyed and rarely threatened the line until Chris Nero's injury-time score.

The Bulls' good build-up work would often come undone by conceding soft penalties as the hosts were coming away from their own line.

This invited Hull forward, with Willie Manu in devastating form running out wide on the left.

The big Tongan second-rower splintered the Bulls defence almost every time he touched the ball early on, targeting the slight Paul Deacon at every opportunity.

Hull should have gone ahead as early as the third minute when Manu powered through the Bulls skipper and then left full back Dave Halley hanging on to his socks but he offloaded to Paul Sykes instead of finding one of his own team-mates.

That glaring error was undoubtedly caused by the shocking colour clash between the sides' kits; the Bulls wore their largely white home kit against Hull's mainly white with black stripes home kit.

When Manu bumped off Sykes on the next of his storming surges, he did manage to supply a team-mate only to see the supporting Kirk Yeaman get confused himself. The Great Britain centre threw inside inches from the line - straight to Bulls hooker Wayne Godwin.

It was a big let-off for the visitors but Hull did eventually strike after Lee Radford had fended off Jamie Langley to rampage clear. The former Bulls favourite was eventually hauled in but Bradford were penalised for offside and soon after Aussie Test star Shaun Berrigan sliced over from close range.

Danny Tickle booted the extras but Hull lost some of their momentum when groggy stand-off Richard Horne was forced off following a heavy collision with Shontayne Hape.

The game was held up for a couple of minutes as he received attention and when it resumed the Bulls stepped up a couple of gears.

With Halley fizzing around for a fourth successive match from full back and Andy Lynch driving hard down the middle, McNamara's men began to make some ground and when Tickle fumbled under heavy pressure they struck.

Nero made the initial yards when Ben Jeffries picked up the loose ball and, after Godwin had gone close from dummy half, Jeffries produced a perfect kick.

Instead of the usual bomb to the corner, the Australian delivered a shallow kick that caught everyone by surprise apart from Nero, who angled in to take it on the full while the Hull defence stood flat-footed.

Deacon, who had missed a penalty from 45 metres out when it was still scoreless, converted to send his side in level.

Super League's top points scorer put the Bulls ahead six minutes into the second half with a penalty when Hull were caught offside but the hosts looked like they had gone ahead when Todd Byrne rounded Tadulala to score in the corner.

However, after a lengthy discussion with his touch judge, referee Ben Thaler decided he had a foot in touch and Bradford were off the hook.

Hull did level with a Tickle penalty and, with Horne now recovered and back on, pressed hard.

Bradford were forced into some huge defence off their own line but they held strong and weathered the storm.

Burgess led a break out and they should have scored themselves but bombed the second phase after the Lion had been collared.

It did not matter though because, after another barnstorming run from Burgess, the Bulls got over.

Sykes went close as he powered on to Jeffries' pass but up stepped Cook to twist over from dummy half.

Cook was only playing after David Solomona pulled out with a calf injury and celebrated with only his second try in 41 Bradford games.

That signalled the Bulls' strong finish. Iestyn Harris came on at hooker and he went blind on the last tackle as they grew in confidence.

Burgess picked up and threatened to kick before delivering Nero a beautiful pass and swift hands from the Aussie put Tadulala over with a walk-in.

Then Burgess completed the job with his try near the death and the under-strength Bulls completed an excellent victory.

With Terry Newton suspended, Glenn Morrison and Joe Vagana long-term casualties and Solomona in the stands, the majority of McNamara's first-choice pack was missing.

But players like Chris Feather and Simon Finnigan met Hull's pack head on and pulled off a memorable win to leave Bradford's renaissance gathering pace fast.

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