Heroic defence tackles Wolves into submission

Although Bradford have conceded way too many points in 2009 – they averaged 26 per match before yesterday – they instantly saw the rewards of a tight ship with this success at Warrington.

Defend well and results will come.

The Wolves had won seven of their last eight games in a run that had started off with a 58-22 mauling of the Bulls at Odsal in April.

But, despite plenty of ball, they had no answer as Bradford stood firm and produced some real solid tackling to destroy that run.

They absorbed the pressure before clinically taking their own chances and banishing the memory of that hiding two months earlier.

The Bulls opened strongly and caused panic in the Wolves defence with their first set, Steve Menzies leaping high to reach Paul Deacon’s towering crossfield bomb but – although Glenn Morrison touched down the bouncing ball – his team-mate had palmed it forward.

Menzies – playing at centre after a midweek training injury to Paul Sykes – then got on the outside of Simon Grix but was just hauled in before getting away.

Typically, Lee Briers was at his probing best too though and his hanging kick was well collected by Matt King but Semi Tadulala and Deacon scrambled to keep the former Australia Test centre at bay.

King epitomised the Wolves’ first-half display; wasteful and error-prone. After Bradford’s bright start, some poor discipline and slack ball control invited the hosts in for plenty of pressure.

McNamara’s men defended well but they were also grateful for some shoddy finishing from Smith’s misfiring outfit.

After Menzies had ambitiously tried off-loading in his own 30 he only found the touchline but King coughed up possession straight from the scrum after a crunching hit by Nero.

Likewise, after Andy Lynch could only get a slight finger to a potential intercept, King knocked on again at the first tackle, then Nero and Tadulala combined again to thwart the lanky three-quarter in the corner.

Bradford continued to make life hard for themselves. Deacon kicked out on the full – although he was under pressure following a poor dummy half pass from Dave Halley – then Lynch, normally so assured and competent, produced two silly mistakes in as many sets.

First, the prop – who signed a new three-year deal in the week – squeezed out an offload in front of his posts which was never on and then, after Warrington again messed up the free ball, Lynch handed it back with a forward pass to Kopczak.

But the relentless defence held firm once more, well-marshalled and beefed up by the return of Glenn Morrison and with Kopczak adding real punch off the bench.

It seemed Bradford would let nothing pass and so it was no surprise they went in 9-0 ahead, whitewash intact.

They had crossed the Warrington line on 14 minutes through an excellent score from Nero.

It came at possibly their worst set of the match. Terry Newton had thrown a pass to the floor behind Deacon on tackle three and they lost further momentum when the hooker sent Mick Worrincy slamming into a brick wall with a short ‘hospital’ pass.

But Bradford then came up with some magic as Deacon and Jeffries moved it wide right on the last, Morrison found some space and gave Menzies a shot.

The Aussie was well-met by Chris Riley but the Wolves winger couldn’t wrap up Menzies completely and he kept it alive for Newton.

Jeffries then kicked it straight back to the other flank – effectively a 40-metre pass – where Nero collected and charged forward with few defenders in sight.

He just got over despite pressure from Briers, who tweaked his hamstring in the chase and had to depart. A double result for the visitors.

Bulls had been hit hard by the penalty count early on, however it was the home side who were made to pay for their sins when Deacon slotted two points after Menzies had ended up on a spear tackle from Mike Cooper and Simon Grix.

The scrum half then cheekily kicked a drop goal on the back foot after the hooter had gone to give his side that nine-point advantage following good work from Nero and impressive youngster Elliott Whitehead to keep the ball alive on the last.

Whitehead was restricted to just the last four minutes on his debut against Wakefield last week but was given his chance in the first half here and took it with both hands.

The England Academy second-rower took the ball in well, came up with a clever off-load out of the tackle and even got over the line on 46 minutes, only to be pulled back after Deacon was deemed to have crossed in the set-move after a penalty.

Moments earlier, the 19-year-old had also come up with a crucial tackle on King – who was destined never to score in this contest – and proved why Steve McNamara has so much faith in him.

But it was Halley and Kopczak – two Academy products now four years into their career – who really proved influential yesterday.

Halley has never looked better at full back as he continually defused bombs and then made metres and metres with his piercing returns, while Kopczak showed he has got what it takes to make it as a front-line Super League prop.

The rangy forward came up with some huge tackles, including one that hammered the luckless Richie Mathers into the turf and also carried with real purpose to prove it was no gamble going without Burgess.

The Bulls did extend their lead just a couple of minutes after Whitehead’s effort was ruled out. Halley started it with a fine off-load off the floor, Julien Rinaldi set Kopczak in motion down the middle and then – with Wolves on the back foot – Jeffries dropped Morrison inside for the Aussie to slice over.

Deacon improved again but when Rinaldi’s off-load on halfway went to ground, Warrington quickly switched play to Grix, who weaved his way infield and sped over from 40 metres.

Former Bull Chris Bridge converted but Bradford should have put the game to bed when Halley cut through off a well-worked Jeffries inside pass to break into space. He had Menzies motoring up clear on his right shoulder but chose Deacon on his inside. The skipper got half-collared by Riley but then lost the ball forward as he desperately tried to find his support.

The mess-up didn’t matter because they did add a third try soon after through Newton after more good approach play from Halley.

Deacon’s kick made it 21-6 with just 14 minutes to go but Morrison uncharacteristically dropped the restart to invite more pressure and Warrington then laid siege in Bradford’s territory.

More excellent defence deterred them though and it wasn’t until Chris Hicks sneaked over off King’s off-load that they gained some reward with just two minutes remaining.