Bulls cruise to cup victory

All the good work by the Wolves to keep Bradford pegged back to 12-12 at half-time was undone as the Bulls ran in three tries when first Graham Appo and then Sid Domic were sin-binned.

A rash of second-half tries by the Bulls, including a superb solo effort from Leon Pryce and a debut try for the impressive Shontayne Hape, sealed the 38-12 victory for the visitors.

It wasn't the most impressive start to the season for Brian Noble's troops, but they certainly showed enough firepower to wither the Wolves defence over the 80 minutes.

Hape and Karl Pratt were handed debuts at Wilderspool, where Warrington had not lost in the Challenge Cup since 1925.

In front of the Grandstand cameras and an incredibly vocal travelling support, the Bulls set about avenging their defeat to Leeds at this stage of the competition last year.

In the opening minute, Hape made some hard yards before Paul Deacon hoisted a kick for Pratt, in for the injured Tevita Vaikona.

Pratt touched down but a knock-on was ruled with an unnecessary referral to the video referee.

But in the fifth minute it was the Wolves who took the lead. Any number of Bulls were caught off-side handing Lee Briers a close range penalty for 2-0.

The same offence was committed at the other end with Deacon grabbing his first points of the season from 15 metres to level the scores.

Wolves, bouyed by tremendous support in their own backyard, took advantage of a Daniel Gartner penalty to force their way down the field.

Second-row forward Darren Burns turned the possession into points, crossing the whitewash after barging his way past Daniel Gartner two yards out for the game's first try. Briers converted to make it 8-2 to the home side.

Clearly fighting above their weight, the Wolves pack surprisingly contained the Bulls' big men.

But when Nick Fozzard was penalised for raking the ball away from Joe Vagana, Deacon aimed and kicked home from 35 yards.

The Warrington side, keen to preserve their incredible record of getting to the last 16 of the competition for the last ten years, were solid in defence, keeping the Bradford go-forward from stealing too many yards.

Stuart Fielden, who looked to be a victim of a high tackle, was invovled in an altercation as the game heated up in the final ten minutes before the break.

Yet another off-side against Bradford then gave Briers another penalty and a 10-4 lead.

An inspired break, probably the first flowing rugby of the game, saw Jon Clarke ghost through.

The ball was moved three times before Jamie Peacock broke up the move with a vital tackle on Graham Appo.

But the referee once more gave an off-side, this one a long way along the line, and Briers made in 12-4 when a kick was predictably taken.

A series of penalties left the Bulls in posession just yards out and this time the visitors did have enough inventiveness to break down the solid defending.

Jimmy Lowes, having a typically rapacious game, popped the ball up for his skipper Robbie Paul to dance and swivel his way over from close range for the Bulls first try of the competitive season. Deacon added the extras.

Momentum suddenly appeared to be with the world champions and they were given a chance to even things up at 12-12 at the break.

Appo, moved in at full back after three Wolves players succumbed to Bulls-inspired injuries, first dropped a straightforward kick through and then made matters worse by flopping on Leon Pryce.

Deacon was never going to miss from close range and the baby-faced assassin grabbed his fourth consecutive strike to leave things all level.

The Wolves, playing out of their skins, can count themselves unlucky not to have taken more from the half despite their clear position as underdogs.

HT: Wolves 12, Bulls 12

With Appo sin-binned for his flop, the Bulls looked to take advantage of the extra man from the off.

Pryce fed Hape and the 21-year-old showed why the Bulls signed him. He sucked in two men before reaching over the top of his tacklers and dropping the ball in for fellow Kiwi Lesley Vainikolo.

Despite the three men between him and the line, the Volcano erupted and forced his way home.

Deacon slipped for the conversion but the Bulls were beginning to rampage.

Warrington shot themselves in the foot after 52 minutes with a bout of petulance from loose forward Sid Domic. With Appo only just back on the field, the number 13 was next to go.

With a team-mate penalised for ball-stealing, Domic disagreed and kicked the ball away in anger. Connolly had no chance but to bring the sin-bin into play.

Down to 12 men, the inevitable happened. Pryce picked it up inside his own half and nothing was going to stop him going all the way.

Already displaying his potential with a number of half-breaks, Pryce slipped past three weak tackles and powered all the way to the line for a deserved score. Five minutes later the screwed was turned by a Bulls side in full flow.

Once again Lowes made the yards down the middle with the help of Vagana and Gilmour and it was Lee Radford who put the final pass out wide for Vainikolo to once more power in at the corner.

And exuberant celebration showed his delight at putting injury behind him and getting on with the business of crossing the whitewash.

By the time Domic returned from the bin the game looked to be beyond doubt.

Even with 13 men the Bulls were always going to be too strong and all across the park yards were being gained against an increased tired-looking defence.

It was only a matter of time before the margin became greater.

First Scott Naylor just ducked inside for a straightforward score, then Hape crossed for the most popular try of the day. Paul sent the ball out wide for Hape to run in from eight yards to complete the scoring.