Bradford Bulls narrowly beaten by Castleford in opening friendly

The Bulls let slip a 14-6 interval advantage as Castleford came back strongly in the second half to emerge victorious in Andy Lynch’s testimonial game.

Jake Mullaney was the star of the show in the opening period as the close-season signing from Salford helped to create tries for Jay Pitts, Ryan Shaw and Adrian Purtell.

The diminutive full back was in sparkling form with some scintillating attacking play as Jimmy Lowes’ men made a fine start to their opening pre-season friendly.

But the Tigers, who scored through Justin Carney in the first half, upped the tempo after the restart and dominated the second  period, scoring two tries in quick succession as the hour mark approached.

Former Leeds centre Ashley Gibson crossed the line after a handling error from Chris Ulugia and then hooker Scott Moore went over after rookie Bulls scrum-half Adam Brook was sinbinned for holding down.

Luke Gale, one of four ex-Bradford players in the Castleford side, converted all three tries and put his new team 18-14 in front.

Yet there were plenty of positives for Lowes to take from the game as eleven new signings made their first appearances for the Bulls in front of a crowd of 3,844.

As well as Mullaney, Etu Uiasele, Jean-Philippe Baile, Harry Siejka, Paul Clough and Lucas Walshaw all started, while Samir Tahraoui, Ulugia, Shaw, Vila Halafihi and Karl Davies all came off the bench.

Baile, however, limped off the field in the final quarter with a leg injury as Lowes now looks forward to next Sunday’s friendly at home to Huddersfield.

 A try in the closing stages from former London man Mike McMeeken, who broke clear inside the right channel, sealed the win for Daryl Powell’s men, who nilled the Bulls in the second half.