Confidence-shot Bradford Bulls crumble to heavy defeat

Time is not yet running out but, on this evidence, only a miracle cure will save Bradford from another year of complete irrelevance.

Promises made after the disastrous defeat at Salford were broken as Warrington were simply allowed to run riot at Odsal to force the campaign deeper and deeper, plumbing new depths.

Hopefully this was the nadir, hopefully it will be onwards and upwards at this point but it’s hard to believe that could possibly be the case following such an abject display.

The Bulls were again plagued by errors and laid low by a chronic lack of belief, their weaknesses only highlighted by the ruthless precision of a Warrington side hell bent on bouncing back from a defeat to Hull FC on Easter Monday.

Any positives that could have been drawn from the 8-8 draw at Catalan Dragons quickly disappeared.

Whatever defensive qualities that had allowed the Bulls to hold firm in the south of France must have been lost somewhere on the journey home because Warrington had little to no problem making breaks or gaining yards.

The parallels with last season were, at times, worryingly clear.

Using the wind to their advantage, the Bulls laid an early platform when Patrick Ah Van’s kick-off bounced out behind the posts as Wolves players dallied.

But they spectacularly failed to make territory count and instead ended up surrendering the advantage to the visitors.

A strong break from Paul Wood got Warrington rolling and steady pressure soon drew errors from the underconfident Bulls.

A Marc Herbert kick was charged down by Michael Monaghan inside his own 40-metre line and Louis Anderson couldn’t believe his luck when he raced clear to touch down completely uncontested. Brett Hodgson added the extras to groans from the home fans.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the whole sequence repeated itself to provoke a horrible feeling of deja vu.

Wood was tackled inside his own in-goal after failing to deal with Ah Van’s restart but, rather than build a spell of pressure, the Bulls completely lost their heads.

A spell of sheer madness was sparked when Paul Sykes hoisted up a high, hanging kick on halfway that went sideways rather than forward.

Olivier Elima tidied up to briefly get his side out of jail but apparently without any lessons learned from their brush with catastrophe.

Needless, wild passes were thrown time and again during a sequence straight out of the Keystone Cops before Ryan Atkins put the Bulls out of their misery, intercepting Herbert’s loose pass to break clear.

Shaun Ainscough made a feeble attempt to tackle the Wolves centre but he had absolutely no trouble in covering the 60 metres to touch down, Hodgson converting.

Confidence bolstered, Warrington were able to make metres with ease, carving up the defence and making half-breaks without really having to exert themselves.

It was no surprise at all when a third try followed, a swift raid down the left wing leaving the Bulls’ right-edge defence in sheer disarray.

A half-break and offload from Atkins sent Matt King clear and he turned the ball inside for Anderson to score his second, Hodgson adding the extras. Adding injury to insult, Ainscough limped off the field in the immediate aftermath to further hamper any faint hope of a comeback.

Clinical and ruthless in their execution, the Wolves soon added another, simply by biding their time, applying pressure and punishing mistakes. This time Elima was the culprit, putting in a poor grubber kick to the corner. Michael Monaghan could barely believe his luck as he picked up and ran the length of the field to touch down.

Yet more embarrassment followed but this time Warrington turned on the style as King added the finishing touch to a delightful exhibition of champagne rugby.

Michael Monaghan, Lee Briers and Simon Grix were all involved in the move before Hodgson sent King cruising to the try-line.

After exposing Bradford’s right edge, the Wolves went to work on their left and once Briers had released Hodgson with a well-timed short ball, the full back went long, his cut-out pass allowing Joel Monaghan to score on the overlap.

Hodgson’s conversion made it 32-0 and signalled the end for many disgruntled fans, who made their way to the exits having seen more than enough.

An injury to Elima made matters worse still and there was no let-up in the misery after the interval.

Warrington forced two drop-outs to start the second half, so it was no surprise when they scored within six minutes, Hodgson taking the delayed pass from Briers, throwing a dummy and touching down before kicking the conversion.

The Bulls forced a drop-out when King shepherded Herbert’s grubber into touch but a promising spell was brought to an abrupt end by Craig Kopczak’s knock-on.

Instead, King made a half-break at the opposite end to send Atkins away down the flank. Shad Royston did his best to stop the former Bull from scoring but Atkins still managed to bundle his way over the goal-line.

Another error led to a try for Mickey Higham. The quick-thinking hooker met with little to no resistance after scooping up the ball on the Bulls’ 40-metre line from a Herbert knock-on. Hodgson converted to make it 48-0.

Bradford finally provided their fans something to cheer on 67 minutes. Herbert chipped over the top and, when he was unable to claim himself, Kopczak was in the right place at the right time to score.

Nine minutes from time, Andy Lynch added another, powering over the line from close distance on the back of a couple of penalties, Ah Van adding the extras. Warrington responded when Chris Bridge followed up Higham’s break to score but Elliott Whitehead earned a warm round of applause after picking up a loose ball and racing 60 metres to beat the covering defence and touch down.

Hodgson rounded off the scoring with the final play of the game, taking a pass from David Solomona and throwing a dummy to cross the whitewash before kicking the conversion.