REPORT: Bulls show some spirit in Odsal loss to Featherstone

THE statement had spelled out how much the Bulls were hurting at being “where none of us wanted to be”.

“Tough times don’t last, tough people do” was the rallying cry on the club’s social media feed last week.

It had been a long, uncomfortable 10 days since that Good Friday home humbling by 12-man Halifax.

They returned to action with a third loss on the bounce last night – but it was a spirited response to the recent adversity.

Nobody will be too surprised that they came up short against the stand-out team in the competition so far.

Brian McDermott almost has an embarrassment of riches to pick from as they returned to the Championship summit.

But the Bulls were well in the contest for nearly an hour before Fev stepped up the pace in the closing stages. They went down fighting.

Kear feels things have been “blown out of proportion” since the Fax defeat but Fev were probably the last team he wanted to come up against on the back of that.

The Bulls had lost the five previous meetings between the sides since Jordan Lilley’s golden moment in the Challenge Cup three years ago.

It was hard enough for the Bulls without a lengthy casualty list to contend with – and Aaron Murphy’s early exit soon added to that.

The team showed four injury-enforced changes after Halifax. David Foggin-Johnston, Brad England, AJ Wallace and Leeds second row Sam Wallace, making his dual-reg debut, replaced Ryan Miller, Sam Scott, Ebon Scurr and Chester Butler.

Brandon Pickersgill made his first Odsal return in a very strong Fev line-up, which included former Toulouse full back Mark Kheirallah making his third appearance.

A couple of “Kear out” chants accompanied the teams on to the pitch but the fans were soon cheering as the Bulls took a seventh-minute lead.

Matty Dawson-Jones alertly kept the ball alive before he could be dragged into touch, falling into a cameraman in the process, and Elliot Hall barged in for his second try of the season.

But the injury issues that have plagued the Bulls continued when Murphy gingerly left the field with a knee problem.

Energetic defending then denied Luke Briscoe a quick response but Fev were level 10 minutes later as Craig Hall weaved across field before releasing Ben Helliwell to burst through a gap in the white shirts.

David Foggin-Johnston scores for the Bulls at the start of the second half

The Bulls were giving as good as they got and Thomas Doyle thought he had restored the lead from dummy half – but was penalised for a double movement as he stretched for the line.

It was Fev, instead, who got in front after Ryley Jacks caught Hall out of position to force a goalline drop-out. And it was scrum half Jacks who then set up Helliwell for his second score with a well-disguised short pass.

But the Bulls had a glorious chance to hit straight back when Briscoe spilled Dec Patton’s kick into his in-goal. The ball spun around invitingly but Walters could only bat it down and was unable to apply enough downward pressure.

Another big opportunity then went begging as the borrowed Leeds man kept the ball alive near the line but Foggin-Johnston did not react quickly enough. It was end-to-end stuff.

A loose pass from Jacks dribbled into touch as Fev wasted the first opening of the second half.

That proved costly when the Bulls levelled things back up. Kheirallah, for once, misjudged a high kick from Jordan Lilley and the ball bounced kindly for Foggin-Johnston to sweep up and race in. Patton’s touchline conversion further lifted the mood.

But Kheirallah quickly atoned for his mistake with a go-ahead try from short range after Jesse Sene-Lefao’s offload caught the Bulls on their heels.

Fev then struck again to create some two-score daylight. Briscoe’s 40-metre burst created the danger and Jacks went it alone with an angled run into the corner.

Hall’s perfect kick made it a 12-point lead and they finally had some breathing space.

Fev were going through the gears and an athletic play from Jack Bussey to smuggle the ball back under pressure in the corner sent in Jacks for another try – although the Bulls had a strong claim that the second row had a foot in touch at the time.

The home side, to their credit, refused to go quietly as Lilley’s well-disguised pass sent in AJ Wallace for their third try.

Pickersgill had been made to wait for his reunion. But he finally made a late entry in place of Kheirallah - and delivered an immediate impact as he exposed a holein the Bulls defence with an early kick that got Jacks through to seal his second hat-trick in successive games.

BULLS: Hall; Dawson-Jones, Kear, Gill, Foggin-Johnston; Patton, Lilley; Baldwinson, Doyle, Crossley, Murphy, England, Hallas. Interchange: B Evans, Wallace, Kibula, Walters.

FEATHERSTONE: Kheirallah; Briscoe, Hall, Hellewell, Gale; Smith, Jacks; Kopczak, Wildie, Lockwood, Bussey, Davies, Moors. Interchange: Pickersgill, Cooper, Sene-Lefao, Mathiou.

BULLS MAN OF MATCH: David Foggin-Johnston.