Smashed to pieces

Bradford Bulls 26

The Bulls turned the tables on the Rhinos in spectacular fashion on Saturday night to book their place in the Grand Final for the fourth year in a row.

Common wisdom had it that the table-topping Rhinos would once again choke on the big occasion. But they didn't choke, they were throttled.

The Bulls came out of the blocks at a million miles an hour and simply smashed the Rhinos to pieces.

Two early Shontayne Hape tries were their reward on the scoreboard but the real damage was done to the Rhinos' hearts, minds and, in particular, their bodies. Key playmakers Andrew Dunemann, Kevin Sinfield and Rob Burrow were all forced to the sidelines for treatment, as was back-rower David Furner, forcing Rhinos coach Tony Smith to burn up his supply of interchanges.

"We ran out of subs tonight," admitted Smith, who was left with only one permitted interchange for the final 15 minutes. "We copped a few knocks early and we were always playing catch-up in that department."

The Rhinos were always playing catch-up on the scoreboard too after Hape's early double.

Stand off Iestyn Harris did well to claim a loose ball from Paul Deacon's kick on the first Bulls set and good hands from Deacon, Lee Radford and Logan Swann shifted the ball promptly to Hape, who bounced off Chris McKenna and held off two more tacklers to score in just the second minute.

Deacon's conversion came back off the upright but the Bulls had laid down the gauntlet with a blistering opening spell.

The Rhinos were clearly rattled and Sinfield compounded matters by putting his restart over the touchline on the full.

A second try inside the opening minutes looked on when Leon Pryce got clear down the right but his back-handed flick to winger Stuart Reardon found the sideline.

In the 15th minute Harris was again the catalyst with a jinking half break that had the Rhinos back-pedalling inside their own 20. Deacon popped up at first receiver to produce a neat skip pass for Hape to finish well out wide.

Deacon's conversion was again astray and his misses looked costly when the Rhinos hit back with a fortunate try just five minutes later.

Stand off Danny McGuire got away with a blatant first-tackle strip on Hape when referee Steve Ganson was looking in another direction and the Rhinos capitalised on the field position with a neatly-worked try on the last. Hooker Matt Diskin carried the ball to the line before stabbing a grubber through for McGuire to pounce and score.

Sinfield made no mistake with the conversion, pulling the Rhinos within two when they were lucky to be within 12.

The try certainly lifted the hosts and they hit top gear, with prop Danny Ward bursting through the line with ease and wing Marcus Bai also breaking clear as the Bulls began to drop off tackles.

A typical Rhinos raid from deep in their own half looked sure to end in a try, but for the intervention of Rob Parker, who atoned for an earlier miss on Bai with a spectacular ankle tap on McKenna.

Four minutes before the break Chev Walker looked to have put the Rhinos in front when Hape failed to deal with McGuire's bomb, but television replays revealed a slight knock on and video referee Dave Campbell correctly denied the try. The Rhinos were fortunate to be in that position anyway, with Ganson ignoring the Bulls' legitimate claims for a penalty when Karl Pratt was taken out at the other end pursuing another Deacon bomb.

Half-time came at just the right time for the Bulls and they came out from the break looking fully refreshed.

The next try was always going to be decisive and it was the Bulls' skipper Robbie Paul who stepped up to the plate. Harris again made a half-break following a Rhinos fumble from a Deacon bomb, allowing Paul to dart out of dummy half before spinning back in the opposite direction and bundling over for the try.

The try was a dagger through the Rhinos' hearts after they had just seen Walker race the length-of-the-field for a 'try' after Ganson had blown his whistle to award the Bulls the scrum.

Deacon nailed his first conversion of the night to establish an eight-point buffer and two minutes later he was again in action with the boot, providing a pinpoint bomb for Hape and Lesley Vainikolo to contest. Neither laid a hand on the ball, but nor did a Rhino, and it bounced on its point for Lee Radford to claim and ground for the try.

Deacon again added the extras before the Rhinos cracked under the pressure, with Sinfield attempting a short kick-off that barely travelled five metres.

The resulting penalty gave Pryce and Reardon a glorious chance to kill the game off with a third try in five minutes, but again they failed to link up and Pryce's pass went into touch with the Rhinos defence shot.

But even at 20-6 down Leeds still looked dangerous. The hosts managed 18 clean breaks to seven but time and again were denied by the Bulls' outstanding scrambling defence. With 15 minutes remaining they did finally unlock the Bulls for a second time, with Sinfield running on the last and producing a fine off-load for Willie Poching to crash over under the posts.

Sinfield's conversion cut the deficit to eight and minutes later they looked to have further cut the margin when Ali Lauiti'iti broke clear and Bai went over in the right-hand corner. Once again video referee Campbell was called upon, but this time his job was simple enough, with replays revealing a clear double movement by Bai.

The 'No Try' decision effectively put paid to the Rhinos hopes of taking the quick route to Old Trafford and the Bulls ended the match on the front foot.

Vainikolo put in a huge hit on McKenna to jar the ball free and then went close to killing the game off when he was bundled out by the corner flag with eight minutes remaining.

With just seconds left on the clock he did finally get his try, courtesy of a neatly-worked scrum move that saw Paul pick up the ball from loose forward and wrap around Deacon before shifting the ball to Hape, who supplied the pass for Vainikolo to thunder over in the corner. Deacon added the touchline conversion with time already up and the Rhinos fans flocking to the exits.

But Bulls fans remained long after the final whistle, savouring the win and contemplating yet another trip to the Theatre of Dreams.