Bradford Bulls pleased with star's leadership and cup spell

Bradford crushed the Rams 40-4 in the pair’s 1895 Cup clash, with Davies playing a big part in ensuring the visitors already held an unassailable 28-point advantage heading into the interval.

Bulls do have plenty of experience in their squad, but that was cut significantly for this Group 2 encounter, with front-row pair Michael Lawrence (back) and Dan Smith (illness) missing out.

Two more key players in their thirties, Ben Blackmore and George Flanagan, left the field with a leg injury and a sin-bin offence respectively, but amid the chaos and among his mostly youthful team-mates, Davies remained as calm as ever.

After the game, O’Carroll told the T&A: “John did lead the team through the game at times and that’s something he speaks about in the dressing room, that it’s his job to do that.

“He plays that role for us anyway, regardless of who else is playing.

“He did it really well today, he led by example, and he also showed some good touches on top of that.”

While on the face of it, Bulls dropped off after the break, only scoring eight points, O’Carroll insisted there was plenty to still please him about that second half.

He said: “I just think it’s important that we maintain our high standards, and make sure we get something out of a game.

“Sometimes you can win a match, but still go into the changing rooms at full-time feeling like you’ve really let yourselves down.

“We didn’t do that today, so that was something I was really happy with.

“We could have been a bit more clinical on the ball, but defensively, we won the collision aspect all day and worked hard for each other.

“Those were the most pleasing things, and what we spoke about at the break was making sure we got our effort areas right.

“We wanted to value those little things that had put us in that good position by the end of the first half and we did so.”

Bulls will need to assess the severity of the injuries Ben Blackmore (leg) and Ebon Scurr (knee) were forced off with at Dewsbury.

Ebon Scurr scored a try in the first half, but was then forced off with a knee injury after the break on a mixed afternoon for the powerful prop. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

But O’Carroll is expecting all of Smith, Lawrence and Billy Jowitt (jarred back) to return in the next few days, meaning the trio should be fully fit for Bradford’s likely winner-takes-all Group 2 clash against Keighley Cougars.

Bulls’ big win yesterday has set up an effective last-16 tie between the two Bradford District rivals at Cougar Park in just under a fortnight, but O’Carroll said: “We’ve just spoken about the Challenge Cup game against North Wales next weekend, which is going to be tough, so we’ll only look at the Keighley game after that.

“As a group, we’ve spoken about this month as a whole, and how we’re in two cup competitions, with no league action to focus on just yet, and what we can get out of both of those, but we’ll assess things one game at a time.”

Bulls could have as many as five more cup games before their Betfred Championship season kicks off at title favourites Wakefield Trinity on Friday, March 15.

O’Carroll is happy with how the schedule has worked out, saying: “It’s about attacking each game as it comes but today, from the moment we all woke up, players and coaches alike, it had a different feel to the friendly with Leeds last week.

“I’m glad these cup games are around now and I just want to congratulate my team today for an outstanding performance after a tough week.”

Expanding on what he meant by a ‘tough week’, O’Carroll said: “There was a bit of illness in camp, we had to change the training schedule at late notice, a few lads had to drop out and Eribe (Doro) didn’t take part in our final session before the game as he wasn’t sure he’d be fit enough to play.

“Today was always going to be about digging in for each other and working hard and the lads did that.”