It was no surprise he celebrated like he’d won a Grand Final.

When Craig Kopczak scored his first senior try last week it was more than your regular first-ever touchdown.

The Bulls prop had been waiting a long time for the moment – FOUR seasons in fact.

It was only a matter of inches for him to get over the whitewash against St Helens but it signalled a real mountain conquered for the Academy product from Eccleshill.

Since debuting against Huddersfield in April 2006, Kopczak has had four efforts at breaking his duck all ruled out and it seemed like he might never get off the mark.

“It’s more than that – more like five or six,” he corrects, each one having annoyed him more than the last.

“I always knew the day would eventually come though. It was just good to finally get it and more so really because of the circumstances it came in.”

Kopczak bagged a T-R-Y at the 34th attempt of trying. If you include his four caps for Wales, make that 38.

But the effort last Friday proved crucial as the Bulls began their now famous comeback at Saints.

His team-mates knew the importance of the try, not only for the side but for the player on a personal level, and they duly mobbed him like a hero.

Kopczak, 22, recalled: “It was brilliant. There was a real feeling of relief but most importantly it helped us get back into the game.

“That’s when everything started rolling for us from there and it was great to come away from Saints as winners. Now we’ve got to back it all up against Wakefield in Edinburgh on Saturday.”

Kopczak is enjoying his best-ever run in the Bulls side, being ever-present this term and starting three consecutive matches before reverting to a bench role at Knowsley Road.

Now he is bidding to make up for lost time with his try-scoring antics, having admitted the drought was getting painful.

He was held up over the line twice last season against Castleford and Hull – both times he insisted he got the ball down – and was also denied because of a non-existent obstruction at Warrington.

“I’ve had quite a bit of stick off the lads over the years, especially with those disallowed tries,” conceded Kopczak.

“They’ve all been saying since that I must have knocked on over the line when I did actually score at Saints!

“The one that sticks out was against Warrington on Sky when I had that chalked off by the video ref for something that happened before.

“There’s a few others but it doesn’t matter now. It was good to get that monkey off my back and now I can just look forward to scoring some more.

“Hopefully that’ll be the case. I can relax now and no one can say anything any more!”

The Bulls are now preparing to head north of the border on Friday to set up camp ahead of the Magic Weekend.

Kopczak said: “We owe it to ourselves, the fans and everyone involved to start stringing some wins together. It’d be great to start doing it up at Murrayfield against Wildcats.

“They beat us at Belle Vue over Easter and can always sense if you’re not quite up for it. We have to be on the ball like at Saints – and we will be.”