Bradford Bulls' young guns blown away by Cougars

Having won comfortably at Dewsbury just five days earlier, they were brought back down to earth by a Cougars side hitting their pre-season peak.

Following mixed fortunes in previous friendlies, Jason Demetriou’s side produced their most convincing display a week before their Northern Rail Cup opener against Rochdale.

Physical and direct, Keighley gave their visitors a test beyond anything they will have experienced at under-20s level, although Stuart Barrow’s side will have learned plenty.

Experience had the better of youth right from the early stages, the Cougars exploiting their visitors’ naivety to dish out a dose of punishment.

Forcing a drop-out within three minutes of kick-off, the hosts made territory count, shifting the ball quickly wide for James Hutchinson to score in the corner, Danny Lawton adding the extras.

Keighley soon extended their lead. Using a well-timed dummy run, Tom Sheldrake found Will Cartledge and he sliced through the defence with a neat angled run to score in the right corner.

Lawton’s conversion extended the advantage to 12 points.

The Bulls finally produced a response five minutes later, courtesy of highly-rated back-rower John Bateman.

The chance looked to have gone when Adam O’Brien’s pass from acting half-back hit the floor, Southernwood scooping up the loose ball and taking the tackle.

Still, a slight opening remained and Bateman spotted it, bursting out of dummy half and weaving past a couple of weak tackles to score a well-taken individual effort.

A second try should have followed and would have done if Lewis Straughn had made better use of his support at the end of a quality 60-metre break.

Having dodged that bullet, the Cougars added another try five minutes before the break, Paul Drake doing his best to better Bateman.

With a good piece of quick-thinking, the Keighley stand-off darted out of dummy half and powered straight through the defence to score between the posts, Lawton converting.

A difficult first half out of the way, the young Bulls seemed to take a few words of half-time wisdom on board as they started the second period.

Giant prop Tom Burgess rampaged towards the try-line and, with bodies draped all over him, was eventually halted just short.

But a breakthrough came on the next tackle as Southernwood produced a piece of magic, dummying, ducking and diving to show off his skills of evasion before touching down for an impressive try.

Back in the game, the Bulls supplied another breakthrough five minutes later to cut the gap to six points.

As the ball was moved left, Crookes’ pass fell loose but Vinny Finigan did well to gather and squeeze in at the corner, O’Brien missing the conversion after Southern-wood had been off target with the previous two.

Seemingly on the ropes at that stage, the Cougars showed plenty of character to turn the game on its head once more, man of the match Hutchinson leading the way.

The powerful winger was in the right place at the right time as Keighley put the ball through several pairs of hands and he beat a week tackle from Lewis Straughn to score in the corner.

Three minutes later the hosts struck again, James Feather going to work inside the Bulls’ ten-metre line and supplying Richard Jones with a well-timed short ball.

Jones blasted over the line from close range and Lawton converted to make it 28-12.

Another three-minute double salvo followed towards the end of the second half to completely kill the game off.

Full back Craig Moss started the move, releasing the impressive Lawton before providing a great bit of support to take the return pass and dive gratefully over the try-line, Lawton adding the extras.

Adding to an already superb showing, Hutchinson exploited the Bulls’ weak right-edge defence once more with ten minutes left on the clock, Feather taking his inside ball to score, Lawton’s conversion making it 40-12.

Keighley completed the scoring after the full-time hooter, Gavin Duffy touching down Ryan Smith’s grubber kick.

Cougars: Craig Moss; Gavin Duffy, Tom Sheldrake, Danny Lawton, James Hutchinson; Paul Drake, Ryan Smith; Scott Law, James Feather, Richard Jones, Will Cartledge, Olly Pursglove, Jason Demetriou. Interchange: Jamaine Wray, Luke Helliwell, Rick Barr, Jamie Shepherd, Chris Baines, James Haythorhthwaite.

Bulls: Kyle Williamson; Lewis Straughn, Rob Hawthorne, Jason Crookes, Vinny Finigan; Callum Windley, Cain Southernwood; Tom Burgess, Adam O’Brien, Steve Crossley, Tom Olbison, Liam McKay, John Bateman. Interchange: Ryan Wright, Liam McAvoy, Lewis Reed, Matt Bailey, Jobe Murphy, Tom Lillycrop, Jarrod Ward, Ryan Laycock.