Records tumble in Bulls romp

6:25pm Sunday 20th April 2008

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Bulls 98, Toulouse 6

The first glance towards the records page came after just nine minutes and that was a sign of the relentless rout to come.

By that stage, the Bulls were already 24-0 up against helpless Toulouse. Ten minutes later, they had amassed 36 points without reply.

You had to feel sorry for the French visitors but at the same time realise it wasn't going to get any prettier. And so we all started flicking through to see ... just what was that biggest score again?

By the end of this hopelessly one-side Challenge Cup tie, three club records were broken as well as all those countless Toulouse tackles as the Gaelic part-timers felt the full force of Bradford's big guns.

When dead-eye Iestyn Harris converted Dave Halley's hat-trick try towards the end it was his 15th goal of the afternoon, breaking a record first set 56 years ago by Joe Phillips.

Henry Paul also scored 14 against Salford in 2000 but Harris - only kicking because Paul Deacon is recuperating from knee surgery - went one better with some fantastic shots.

From 17 attempts, many from the touchline, he only missed two and both of those hit the post. The last one, when he tried to improve Halley's fourth try, bounced back to deny Bradford their first-ever 100-point victory. Being saved from that embarrassment was about the only thing that went right for Toulouse all day.

The demolition job was the biggest win in the club's history, eclipsing their 96-16 success over Salford when Paul achieved his feat. It also levelled Bradford's biggest-ever winning margin, gained when they walloped Workington in another fourth-round tie in 1999.

Although Toulouse were semi-finalists three years ago, there was never any chance of an upset here as the Bulls ran in 17 tries, another club record.

They were playing their third game in eight days, having suffered a heavy defeat to French leaders Lezignan last weekend and then crashing out of the play-offs against St Gaudens on Wednesday night.

Their task against Bradford was big enough but they lost five players to injury in that fixture and travelled without eight first-teamers. Toulouse had asked for their midweek game to be shifted to next week but were turned down by their French bosses.

Considering they all had jobs to contend with too, it was not perfect preparation for meeting the three-times world club champions. Their season was coming to an end at Grattan Stadium and they knew it.

However, despite falling behind so badly and so early through tries from Sam Burgess, Ben Jeffries, Semi Tadulala, Glenn Morrison and James Evans, they did not capitulate.

A big cheer went up when Toulouse finally broke from their own half and eventually finished with a shock try on 23 minutes.

Winger Frederic Vaccari took the glory with a well-finished effort and it was the least they deserved. After that though, apart from a fleeting chance towards the death, Thierry Dumaine's side never got a look in.

Bulls boss Steve McNamara had chosen to send out most of his senior stars, with only Shontayne Hape, Chris Nero and Andy Lynch gaining a rest.

After the disappointing defeat at Hull KR, and with Wigan and Leeds looming, he intended to utilise this fixture to get the Bulls rampaging again and they gleefully took the opportunity.

Morrison and Tadulala both finished with hat-tricks to add to the exploits of Halley, who again showed his growing class.

McNamara felt for Toulouse though and said: "You never like to see that sort of scoreline but you just have to get the job done and we did.

"Toulouse are obviously doing it tough at the back end of their season and it was a game too far for them - but they tried their hardest and deserved to be in this round, having beaten Keighley. There was some periods where they really had a go."

McNamara admitted it was important his side put the Hull KR defeat behind them.

He said: "The players got an opportunity to go out there and play again. You can set up drills and practice in training but they went out there and did it in a game, albeit against opposition who weren't in their class "Now we've got another eight-day turnaround before Wigan but there were other reasons why a lot of our senior players played: Glenn Morrison needed to play again after only his first game back last week, David Solomona's not long back from a knee injury and it's Tame Tupou's first game back, while Matt James did very well too.

"There were a few positional changes too. Jim Evans had a go in centre and Michael Platt was back from injury, so we had to play a strong side because we needed to."

Kiwi Tupou had a try ruled out in the first half after Halley's pass was deemed marginally forward and then the big winger, back from a knee injury, spilled over the line after winning the race to Jeffries' chip.

However, Tupou did get on the sheet in the second half while Evans, shifted from the wing, was outstanding at centre.

Toulouse hope to win a licence to join Catalans and play in Super League next season. This massive defeat, in front of RFL chief executive Nigel Wood, can't have done their hopes any good.

But Dumaine refused to be downhearted, saying: "If we'd got a score like (fellow applicants) Celtic Dragons against Leeds on Friday, when they lost 38-16, it would have been better for the image of Toulouse but we know if we do get to Super League the squad will change 75 per cent.

"I am assistant to national coach John Monie and I know there are players in the domestic competition who can step up and in the right structure with professionalism it is possible.

"We had eight players missing through injury as well and some of our best and most experienced players. If we'd had them, maybe the game is not the same."

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