New boys not half bad as Bulls finish year on a high

Steve McNamara’s new-look side triumphed at The Jungle to get on-pitch preparations for Super League XV off on the right foot.

Two different Bulls sides took the field, with a strong side contesting the first half before the club’s Academy stars got their chance to impress after the break.

Aussie imports Heath L’Estrange, Brett Kearney and Glenn Hall all made their Bradford debuts and Stuart Reardon featured on the left wing in his first game since returning to the club.

“It’s been a worthwhile hit-out for us,” said McNamara. “We went with a different side each half and the first half we had our senior players out there.

“We made too many errors and gave too many penalties away but defensively we looked in great nick and we had some good contact.

“Once we held onto the ball a bit and played reasonably quick, I thought we showed some good signs and scored a couple of nice tries.

“The second half we put our academy side out and they did a tremendous job too. All in all it’s been a good day.”

Cas made much of the early running, the spark provided by Kiwi half back Rangi Chase when his grubber kick was pounced on by Joe Arundel for the opening score, Huby adding the extras.

But as the Bulls became more familiar with one another, combinations started to bear fruit and their pivots took control of the game.

Youngster Danny Addy was a strong, calm presence on his introduction to first-team action, while both Kearney and L’Estrange showed flashes of what they can offer in 2010.

Kearney’s flat pass to Elliott Whitehead, just as he was clattered by a defender, unlocked Castleford’s left-side defence for the visitors’ first try five minutes before the break.

Whitehead found Michael Platt with space to run into and the centre’s inside ball sent Dave Halley dashing over the line.

Then livewire hooker L’Estrange took advantage of the flat-footed Cas defence to send Whitehead strolling in on 38 minutes, Addy improving.

An almost completely different Bulls 13 took to the field after the break, made up entirely of Academy stars – Jason Crookes and Addy the only survivors from the first 40 minutes.

At first it looked as if they were in for a torrid time up against a strong Cas line-up, and Dean Widders rampaged through to score within two minutes of the restart to cap a move started by Chase’s clever offload.

But, when Matterson removed both Chase and Widders, the game swung back in Bulls’ favour and Duane Straughier restored their lead after Matthew Dawson spilled the ball behind his own line.

An impressive off-load from James Donaldson and a powerful charge from George Burgess set up Jonny Horton for the first of his two tries, Hyde converting, before Cas responded through a John Davies try and goal from Ryan Brierley.

Bulls had the final say though, Horton jinking over two minutes from time, leaving Hyde with the straightforward conversion.

The only negative for McNamara was the injury suffered by Ben Hellewell, who suffered a suspected broken hand.

Bulls: Dave Halley; Rikki Sheriffe, Michael Platt, Jason Crookes, Stuart Reardon; Danny Addy, Brett Kearney; Andy Lynch, Heath L’Estrange, Nick Scruton, Glenn Hall, Elliott Whitehead, James Donaldson. Replacements: Jonny Horton, Steve Crossley, Duane Straughier, Kieran Hyde, Tom Olbison, Tom Burgess, George Burgess, Tom Lillycrop, Liam Kay, Liam Mackay, Ben Hellewell, Andy Tate, Vinny Finigan, Joe Wardle.