EAMON O’Carroll felt the Bulls got what they wanted from yesterday’s friendly at Featherstone.

His side went down 16-12 in their first warm-up outing of 2014 at the Millennium Stadium.

But new coach O’Carroll was fairly content with what he saw.

“The game gave us everything that we needed,” he said.

“It was important for us to look at some things from the Halifax game and try and improve on them and I thought we did.

“The effort was outstanding from everyone throughout the squad – and everyone came through the game as well.

“We spoke about where we wanted to start some of our defensive sets. I thought we did that very well, throughout the first half certainly.

“Those were the most impressive signs but there’s still plenty to work on.”

Jorge Tafua scored two tries and Ben Blackmore, playing his first friendly, got the other.

But the Bulls were pulled up three times for not playing the ball correctly as part of the new crackdown this year on cleaning up the ruck.

O’Carroll admits that is an area that they will continue to work on.

He added: “It just shows with the ruling that you can really put yourself under pressure through that little bit of skill and ill-discipline.

“As coaches and players, we’ve got a responsibility to make sure we do the right thing and make an attempt to play the ball. How that’s seen through the eyes of the referee is not down to us.

“We’ll just keep looking at that in training and hopefully there’s no more. You could see there were periods of that game that weren’t great for people who are coming to watch rugby but ultimately that responsibility lies with us.

“On the flipside of that, we showed a great response and came up and scored some points in the set afterwards.

“(There are) lessons to be learned but I’m happy with where we are at right now.”

O’Carroll made seven changes from the side that beat Fax at Odsal on Christmas Eve. Skipper Michael Lawrence was among those rested.

“He’s not missed a session yet and wants to be involved with everything,” said O’Carroll.

“He was in the changing room with the boys doing what a captain would do.

“But it’s the right thing. It’s a long season, we’ve got another two to play before we get into any sort of competitive games.

“Managing this period is really important to us.”

Forward Eliot Peposhi also missed out through illness as the former St Helens youngster looks to win a contract with the Bulls. O’Carroll hopes he will be available to face Hull FC next weekend.

“He was really disappointed he couldn’t train or play but it was my decision to keep him away from the camp, so he didn’t give the sickness to anyone else.

“I want to make sure when Elliot plays, which hopefully will be next week, he gives the best account of himself.

“He’s a great kid and he’s been doing well. He didn’t need to be here to prove anything about himself.

“I’m not going to put a young lad out on trial if he’s not 100 per cent fit. It would be unfair to him.”