Crusaders 44, Bulls 20

Brian Noble will surely have afforded himself a wry smile after his Crusaders did another job on old friends – they have enjoyed playing Bradford this season.

Having produced possibly their best performance of the season to win a one-sided affair at Murrayfield in May, the Welshman did much the same in June, ending a four-game losing streak with some comfort.

Were it not for a 20-16 win at Odsal early in the season, the Bulls would likely be seeing their former coach’s face in their nightmares.

The writing had been on the wall after a poor opening quarter when Bradford saw little of the ball and conceded three quick-fire tries that left them reeling.

There was a glimmer of a chance when they pulled to within four points thanks to Mike Worrincy’s try two minutes after the break but they were prevented from building on that by an energetic and enthusiastic Crusaders defence.

The margins between success and failure had been fine, even if the scoreboard told a very different story.

The Bulls had been left exposed within three minutes of the opening whistle. After Heath L’Estrange had kicked dead on the last tackle, Crusaders attacked with precision from the 20-metre restart.

A great break and offload from Frank Winterstein provided Tony Martin with the room to manoeuvre and the overlapping Gareth Thomas was on hand to score the game’s first try. Clinton Schifcofske made the tricky conversion count.

In need of a quick response, the Bulls got one from prop Nick Scruton, obviously keen to show Steve McNamara – his boss for club and country – that he should not have missed out on an England place in the previous day’s Test against France.

His booming hit on Ryan O’Hara drew gasps from the Racecourse Ground crowd but the home side failed to let it shake them.

On the back of a kind penalty count, they applied pressure to the Bulls line and Winterstein was held up as he looked for a second try. It was not long in coming though.

Having forced a drop-out on the Bradford line, Crusaders produced some stunning ball movement, sparked by an offload out of the tackle from Mark Bryant.

Rhys Hanbury found Jason Chan with a delightful flick-pass and Vince Mellars completed the move, strolling over on the left. Schifcofske again added the extras – and it only continued to get worse.

Bradford simply failed to make tackles count and had absolutely no answer for Crusaders’ sparkplug half-back Hanbury.

His clever step and offload created the hosts’ third try, Weller Hauraki pushing through to benefit from the good work and provide Schifcofske with a simple conversion right in front of the posts.

The Bulls did at last wake from their slumber, mainly thanks to the endeavour of Chris Nero.

The Aussie centre was switched on enough to dive on the ball when the hosts themselves lacked awareness at their own play-the-ball.

L’Estrange provided the spark to get the Bulls going forward and Nero made an angled run onto Brett Kearney’s pass to finish well on the left.

When Wayne Godwin lost the ball in contact on the following set, it seemed to hand the initiative back to Crusaders – especially when Craig Kopczak gave away a penalty inside his own 20-metre line.

But the Bulls dealt with the threat and managed to strike again with seven minutes remaining before the break.

After Kearney made the break, he released Joe Wardle with a neat inside ball on the opposition 20 and although the rookie centre found his path to the line blocked, Dave Halley made the supporting run to touch down.

Sykes kicked the extras but Schifcofske replied with a penalty to make the gap ten points at half-time.

They could not have started the second period any better. L’Estrange pounced after Chan dropped the ball on his own 40-metre line and Craig Kopczak almost broke clear.

The big prop was halted but the Bulls bided their time and made their territory count when Worrincy cut a lovely angled line onto the pass from Sykes to touch down, Sykes improving.

At that point, the comeback definitely looked to be on, yet the Bulls proceeded to shoot themselves in the foot.

The defence was stretched by swift passing out wide and Martin scored off the offload from Luke Dyer, Schifcofske holding his nerve to re-establish a ten-point lead.

A superb hit by Hanbury on Godwin knocked the wind out of Bradford as they went in search of a quick response and they were thwarted time and again by desperate Crusaders defence.

Dyer dealt well with a Kearney grubber kick as Stuart Reardon looked to pounce and Scruton came within a whisker of the whitewash after a powerful drive.

But the most remarkable piece of defending came when Mellars somehow managed to get an outstretched arm on the ball and touch down inside his own in-goal when Kearney’s kick had gone loose, cruelly denying Wardle his first senior try for the Bulls.

Having exerted so much energy to no avail at one end of the field, the Bulls fell apart at the other.

Hanbury sparked Crusaders’ victory procession, making the break for Hauraki to grab his second try of the game and effectively end any hopes of a Bradford comeback.

The lively scrum half was also instrumental in his side’s sixth try, picking up after Wardle had spilled the ball in contact and breaking 30 metres before handing Nick Youngquest the easiest of finishes.

To cap a miserable afternoon for the Bulls, Lincoln Withers scored two minutes from time after Martin’s chip down the right flank had been collected and shipped on by Winterstein. Schifcofske was unerring as he converted all three.

Elliott Whitehead claimed a late consolation, reacting quickest after Chan had lost the ball, but it did little to lift the spirits.

Attendance: 2,979