SHEFFIELD 50

BULLS 12

BULLS made a woeful start to their 2021 Championship campaign, with a defensive horror show seeing them obliterated 50-12 by the Sheffield Eagles at the Keepmoat Stadium.

There were major Our League streaming issues, but those Bradford fans who missed much of the action were probably the lucky ones.

Sheffield ran in 10 tries and dominated in all departments, with the scoreline arguably flattering the visitors.

The Eagles opened their account after four minutes, with a slightly fortunate try.

Izaac Farrell lofted the ball out to the right, with Rob Worrincy winning the aerial challenge and flicking the ball back inside.

Anthony Thackeray swung a boot at it and the ball landed perfectly into the hands of Aaron Brown, who went over for a converted score.

Soon after, intense Sheffield pressure paid off.

Good handling from try scorer Brown and then Izaac Farrell saw Thackeray fire the ball out to full back Josh Guzdek, who beat the tackle and flew over.

Izaac Farrell’s conversion clanked back off the post as the score remained 10-0.

A third try for Sheffield came when Thackeray saw a gap left by the full back and clipped the ball through.

Bulls had players converging on it but Aaron Brown wanted it more, and he took the ball down and dived over to make it 14-0, with Izaac Farrell adding the extras.

Sheffield soon wore Bulls down once again, and the ball found its way out to centre James Glover.

It looked like Rhys Evans had made a successful tackle, but Glover’s momentum saw him slide over the line.

Bulls were starting to fall apart, and though Worrincy and Ryan Millar made a mess of a golden chance down the right, the ball eventually found its way out to Joel Farrell, who went over in the corner for a fifth try.

Bradford conceded their sixth try right on the hooter.

Thackeray’s stunning kick from just inside his own half was caught out wide by a sprinting Glover on the full.

He looked like he might be caught by Joe Brown but he just managed to win the race to make it 28-0 at the break.

Izaac Farrell failed to convert any of those last three tries, with Bulls lucky things were not any worse.

The visitors were much better at the start of the second half, and interchanges Levy Nzoungou and Billy Jowitt were both stopped practically on the line.

But Bulls’ dreadful defending soon reared its ugly head again.

Thackeray stepped through the line and laid it off to Oliver Davies, who ran out of puff but flicked the ball back to Izaac Farrell, who produced some fine footwork to send Joe Brown to the turf and go over under the posts.

Bulls then had their best spell. Danny Brough got a grubber right and Joe Brown looked certain to score.

But he misread the bounce and despite getting to the ball, he failed to ground it.

Bulls did get on the board when some good passing saw the ball come to Pickersgill in the centre. He found Adam Rooks, who picked a good line and flew over by the posts.

Brough converted that and he was soon back at the kicking tee again.

Great work from the kick off saw skipper Steve Crossley make a couple of nice carries before Jowitt was able to burst through the middle.

He then fed Joe Brown on his left, who sprinted through from the halfway line to score. Brough’s successful kick made it 34-12.

But that was as good as it got for Bulls. The imperious Thackeray combined brilliantly with Guzdek, but the former knocked on when crossing the line.

Brough then flung a poor pass out to the right, and Thackeray intercepted and ran in 80 metres for the score.

Izaac Farrell and Glover combined to get Thackeray in for a ninth try of the afternoon for the hosts, which was converted, before Brough and Joel Farrell were sin binned for some handbags.

Izaac Farrell was yellow carded too for a poor tackle on Crossley, but nothing was going to stop Sheffield.

With Jack Sanderson down after a knock in the tackle, the hosts made the most of the 11 v 11 to bring up their half century through Millar, who broke down the right to score.

Bradford have two weeks now to take stock before their big derby at home to Halifax, and on this evidence, they will need every second of it.