Eamon O’Carroll "proud" with Bradford Bulls after Toulouse

His side ran out 19-12 winners at the Bartercard Odsal Stadium and in doing so, made it three wins on the bounce to reaffirm their strong start to life under the former Catalan Dragons assistant.

Speaking after the contest, O'Carroll said: “This victory was really important to us because we want to keep backing up our performances. I was really proud with the character the group showed today.

“We weren’t perfect by any means, but one thing that we did get perfect was the effort shown by the boys, so I’m really pleased for them to be able to come away with the victory.”

Once again, Bradford’s resilient defence rightly deserved a great deal of the post-match plaudits, but O’Carroll admitted that he felt his side were under too much pressure for his liking.

He said: “Yes, we gave them too many invitations to attack our line and eventually it’s going to hurt us, so it’s something we need to look at.

“I’ve not mentioned it to the players straight after the game because I think it’s important for them to celebrate and savour these moments.

“However, we are having to do far too much defensive work at the moment."

Bulls rally round one and other after defending another set (Image: Tom Pearson)

O’Carroll was under no illusions when discussing just how good this Bradford side could become if they were to drop some of their frailties.

He said: “This group has lots of potential and who knows where we can get to? The objective at the minute is to be honest in our reviews and our performances, and sometimes being better just means being more consistent with how we play, it’s not particularly about looking at the negatives all the time.

“However, you don’t get that (consistency) just by winning three on the bounce; you get it over a prolonged period of time and that’s something we are hunting for as a group.

“I can’t question the group’s character at the minute. I love what they are about, their energy and just how much they care. They really do care, and you could see that again in the performance today.

“I’m delighted that they managed to see the game out against a really good Toulouse side.”

Sam Hallas lets his emotion out at full-time as his side hold on to a precious victory (Image: Tom Pearson)

The Bulls’ final 15 minutes of the game were fairly heroic, as the hosts came under a lot of pressure from the French outfit as they looked to find a way back into the game.

However, the effort and endeavour shown by O’Carroll’s men to hold on to their lead was nothing short of sensational.

The Bradford boss hailed their commitment, when he said: “They showed massive fight right until the final whistle and I couldn’t have been prouder of them for doing that.

“The amount of pressure we were under, the number of penalties we were conceding and the amount of errors we were producing, it meant that we were penned in for the final 15 minutes of the game.

“To be able to contain that was incredible, and then we even managed to flip it on its head and work our way up the other end of the pitch, not in terms of securing more points, but to improve our field position.”

Eribe Doro went off with a head injury and head to go through the HIA protocols, while Connor Carr limped off for the Bulls.

Giving an update on both players, O’Carroll said: “Eribe was dancing around the changing rooms, so I think he’ll be alright,” he joked.

“He went off with a head knock, so we’ll go through the standard protocols, but I expect him to be okay for York.

“As for Connor, he rolled his ankle. I’ve spoken to him and he’s pretty down about the situation, so we’ll get him assessed and I’m sure Huddersfield will want to see him as well. Hopefully it’s not too bad, but he’s a tough kid is Connor so for him to come off like he did, he must have done something substantial.”