Whipping boys give sorry Bulls a hiding

That was one question left being asked by many yesterday as the side that won at St Helens just three weeks ago and mesmerised Wakefield turned in one of their most turgid displays yet.

Celtic Crusaders picked up their first-ever Super League win – after a 13-match losing run in all competitions that stretched back into last year – and richly deserved it.

If the Bulls had pulled off a late revival, which they threatened to do after clawing back to within two points with two minutes to go, it would have been a true travesty.

As it was, Ben Jeffries stepped over the whitewash behind the goal-line trying to gather the re-start, conceding a drop-out, and Bradford’s last chance went.

It was the sort of basic error that has plagued their campaign and fitting that it ended their hopes of rescuing this disaster.

Right from the start, Bradford looked lethargic, disorientated and lifeless, when they should have been pumped up and eager to deliver a third successive victory.

They had no fixture last weekend but they looked like they had played four games in four days. There was no energy or enthusiasm from too many of the players and Celtic seized their chance.

The Welsh side have had problems all year but they defended brilliantly yesterday and then executed their attack when they needed it most to leave the Bulls stunned and cause a massive upset.

When their second-rower Jason Chan was penalised for lying on Andy Lynch in the very first tackle of the game, there was no sign of all the drama to come.

Team-mate Josh Hannay repeated the offence on Dave Halley just three tackles later to give the Bulls further easy metres, and it seemed the Crusaders would be on the end of another bashing.

However, they held them out, Sam Burgess unable to get the ball down as he tried diving in from dummy half on the last and it soon became apparent the visitors would get plenty of help from their hosts.

Steve Menzies fumbled in front of the posts while trying to get to his feet, the first of a catalogue of handling errors from Bradford in a mistake-ridden first period.

Celtic put on a slick handling move after the Aussie’s handover and Damien Quinn looked set to get in at the corner but good cover from Paul Deacon denied the full back.

They were in after nine minutes though through Chris Beasley. Deacon had been hurried on the last, resulting in a desperate kick from Sheriffe, which handed Celtic a good starting position for their set.

It ended with scrum half Jace van Dijk dabbing over a better-executed chip, which bobbled up and caught Halley flapping.

The Bulls full back tried palming the ball away but could only serve it up for grateful loose forward Beasley.

Hannay converted and the Bulls were hit by another blow when winger Semi Tadulala limped off after just 15 minutes.

The Fijian had hardly trained last week due to a tight hamstring suffered at Murrayfield and it came back to haunt him, no doubt worsened by the terrible under-foot conditions.

That meant McNamara had to force a rejig, with Michael Platt – already out of position at centre – shifted out to the wing and second row Menzies put in the three-quarters.

Burgess – one of the few forwards to make any impression as the Bulls struggled to make yards in the middle – lifted the crowd out of their slumber with a strong break but Nick Scruton knocked on before they could apply any pressure.

Paul Sykes raised hopes again with a shuddering hit on Beasley which won possession back – only for Jeffries to lose the ball in a tackle seconds later.

Sykes tried lifting his side again with another