Acting head coach Lee St Hilaire knows Bradford must be wary of the boot if they are to avoid a kicking at Hull KR tomorrow evening.

The Craven Park clash is virtually a must-win for the Bulls, who currently sit three points adrift of the play-off places, and St Hilaire believes their hopes could live or die in the halves.

Combined with a powerful pack and effective use of strike players out wide, Rovers have relied on their accurate kicking game through a run of just one defeat in five games.

With scrum half Michael Dobson adept at turning the opposition around and establishing territory, the likes of Ben Galea and Scott Murrell also come into play in the attacking third of the field.

But as much as the Bulls must deal with that threat, their own kicking game must be spot-on, with the emphasis on halves Brett Kearney and Danny Addy to take control of matters.

“They’re going well so we will have to be at our best for 80 minutes,” said St Hilaire.

“That’s the key to winning the game this weekend. If you can deal with their kicking game – the threat from Michael Dobson and then Ben Galea and his short-kicking game – and then put our own kicks into place, we should be all right.

“Our back three will have to perform well, and we can’t afford to have any blips like we did at times against Salford, but dealing with their back field is crucial as well.”

Following an inept kicking performance against Harlequins, Kearney slotted in alongside Addy in the halves for last week’s defeat to Salford and the Bulls began to find their range.

They have suffered badly from the lack of a stable partnership at stand-off and scrum half, mainly due to the season-ending injury suffered by Matt Orford and, more recently, Paul Sykes’ suspension.

But St Hilaire insists that cannot be used as an excuse for failing to come up with the big attacking plays.

“Not having a standard six or seven in the group has made it tough,” he said.

“It’s been tough all year. Orford was in and out, Heath (L’Estrange) has been there, Sykes has been there, Wagga’s (Wayne Godwin) played a little bit there, Cain Southernwood, Danny Addy – it’s endless.

“We just can’t seem to get a settled pair to link with Heath at nine, for instance. But we’ve still got a good enough standard of players to come up with the plays for us, we’ve just not done it.”

Addy and Kearney look set to be given the nod again this week after the pair showed signs of a potentially solid partnership, regularly putting the ball into the right area on the final tackle, only to be let down by poor defence high up the field.

St Hilaire singled out Addy for praise, hailing the fearless way the 19-year-old back-rower had approached his new role.

“Danny’s going really well and is coming up with some great plays,” he said.

“There’s a lot of responsibility on him and at 19 years old, coming into the side the way he has done, I think he’s done a great job.

“It will stand him in good stead for the future, he just needs some help.”