Saints’ Valentine’s Day massacre of Bulls

Paul Wellens plundered four tries and Saints piled on 38 points to bludgeon the Bulls’ fragile confidence in their first home game of 2010.

Bradford fans were given a glimpse of glories past but, rather than their own team, it came in the shape of Leon Pryce, the former Bulls star answering criticism of his own recent performances with a dominant display at stand-off.

The hosts simply couldn’t deal with him throughout a disastrous first half when Saints built a 20-point lead and effectively put the game out of sight.

In comparison, the Bulls’ halves endeavoured to make a difference but looked extremely rusty, particularly Matt Orford, although the Aussie scrum half at least scored a late consolation try.

There was no lack of effort but Steve McNamara’s troops often looked like strangers as they muddled through combinations and struggled to seriously trouble a resolute Saints defence.

The Bulls were immediately put on the back foot when Paul Sykes conceded a penalty near halfway, providing an early test of the goal-line defence which had been called into question in the previous week's defeat at Huddersfield.

But, through a combination of solid tackling and Saints’ profligacy, they came through the examination unscathed.

After taking the ball up hard, Saints attempted to hit the flanks, looking to attack the Bulls’ left edge – an area ruthlessly exposed by the Giants early in the 24-12 defeat at the Galpharm Stadium.

Jon Wilkin played a long cut-out pass, attempting to release young winger Jonny Lomax, but the ball slipped through his hands and sailed into touch.

Having escaped the early threat, Bradford had a chance to exert some pressure of their own, on the back of two successive penalties.

But they couldn’t capitalise. A powerful Chris Nero drive was halted just short of the try-line before Paul Sykes spilled the ball on the next tackle to a collective sigh of relief from the Saints fans gathered behind the sticks.

Much as errors had caused the Bulls’ downfall in their season opener, they were soon made to pay for their failure to build pressure and exert control.

And, with criticism for recent performances ringing in his ears, it was Pryce who plotted his former side’s downfall.

Putting in a far more assertive display at stand-off than in the previous week’s defeat to Hull FC, Pryce played to his strengths and benefited from some excellent support play from his team-mates.

A typically powerful charge set the platform for Saints’ opener, the Bulls academy product standing up in the tackle and freeing his hands to release Paul Wellens.

Initially the Saints full back attempted to round opposite number Dave Halley but, realising he had back-up arriving, Wellens dropped a pass to Wilkin, giving him a stroll to the line.

Kyle Eastmond added the extras and then kicked a penalty to extend the lead, although the attack could have been far more costly had Wellens held another clever offload from Pryce.

But that combination got it right four minutes later to ensure matters only got worse for Bradford.

Brett Kearney stopped the initial threat, impressively chasing down Francis Meli after he had broken down the left flank and launching himself at full stretch to bring down the Kiwi with an ankle tap.

Yet Saints kept on coming, and Pryce once more showed strength close to the line before looking over his shoulder to find Wellens, the full back darting through a gap to score. Eastmond kicked the straightforward conversion to make it 14-0.

At sixes and sevens, with their confidence battered, the Bulls were unable to reach the break without conceding again, although they were on the receiving end of a particularly poor piece of refereeing.

Saints knocked on and, although the hosts gathered possession, they too knocked on without gaining advantage and play should have been called back for the initial error.

But Phil Bentham decided otherwise, leaving James Roby to gratefully gather and scamper towards the Bulls line.

It was that man Pryce who again made his former employers pay, stepping and offloading for Wellens to claim his second try of the game, Eastmond improving.

As if to sum up a wretched first 40 minutes, Bradford had one last shot at mounting an attack, yet Orford’s long pass went behind everyone and Nero gathered only to knock on immediately.

A response had to come after the break and, initially at least, it did.

The Bulls forced St Helens to defend three consecutive sets on their own line but just couldn’t break through.

Wayne Godwin came close with a lunge from dummy half but Orford’s grubber rolled dead on the next tackle, allowing the visitors an opportunity to ease the pressure.

Bradford came again and looked the most likely to score but, predictably, the move broke down and Saints capitalised in spectacular fashion.

As Orford attempted to make use of the men outside him, he forced a long, looping pass out to the left flank and Eastmond picked it off, running 80 metres to score despite a gallant chase from Halley. Despite that boost, Saints could barely escape their half for long periods, yet Wayne Godwin wasted his side’s best chance, knocking-on over the line after a good offload from Nick Scruton.

Unable to find a way through the opposition defence, the Bulls’ own line was breached twice more as the game wound down.

Wellens completed his hat-trick, taking the pass from Lomax to touch down after an impressive break from Roby, Eastmond improving.

Then the full back struck again with eight minutes remaining, receiving the ball from Matt Gidley to canter over. Eastmond maintained his perfect record with the boot.

Bradford did at least avoid an embarrassing ‘nilling’ when Orford blasted onto the short ball to score on his home debut, adding the conversion with the final kick of the game.