Bradford Bulls draw brutal but brilliant game in Toulouse

The pitch resembled a battlefield at times in the second half yesterday evening, with players strewn all over the field with bumps and bruises from a full-blooded encounter.

There were stunning moments of magic too though, exemplified by Bulls’ two gloriously-worked tries late in the first half.

But the visitors got off to a sticky start when the big-hitting Jorge Taufua wiped out Mathieu Jussaume with a crunching late tackle, which saw the visiting winger sent to the sin-bin.

Jorge Taufua's early sin-binning threatened to make it a long evening for Bulls, but they were largely superb. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

And Toulouse took advantage against 12 men, as the hosts went left and Ryan Rivett bulleted a lovely short ball into Reubenn Rennie, who stormed his way over the line.

That try from the centre left Jake Shorrocks with an easy conversion, putting the hosts 6-0 in front.

A tense period followed, with some excellent defence peppered with some handling errors.

And yet it was from a blatant knock on that Bulls drew level.

Shorrocks’ kick was won in the air by Paul Marcon, but an errant knock back bounced favourably for Jordan Lilley.

In trying to break away, the scrum half clearly fumbled the ball forward, but referee James Vella somehow missed the knock on.

Two barnstorming Franklin Pele breaks later, then one deft Tyran Ott tap through five metres out, and Zac Fulton rolled over for his 11th Championship try of the season.

Zac Fulton got his 11th Championship try of the season, his prolific season continuing in style. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

A furious Toulouse then had to watch the sheepish Lilley level proceedings with a simple conversion.

And it soon got worse for the shellshocked hosts, as they went behind just before the break.

Lilley had been struggling to find his range with his kicking from open play, but he brilliantly stabbed a precise ball through on 36 minutes off the back of a scrum.

That left Paul Ulberg, Olly Ashall-Bott and Rennie chasing back desperately, but none of them could outpace the rapid Max Lehmann, who dived over for the score.

Lilley subsequently kicked Bulls 12-6 ahead on 37 minutes, in front of 600 jubilant away fans, ensuring his side narrowly led at half-time.

A Fulton high tackle on halfway put Bradford under early pressure in the second half, and it took superb defence from Jayden Okunbor to keep Toulouse out, as he slid on his back and diverted a grubber behind the in-goal area under pressure from the charging pair of Ashall-Bott and Marcon.

More pressure followed and Toulouse were furious when Taufua was not punished for taking out Ashall-Bott with a bone-crunching tackle.

But Vella did not feel there was any malice in the crunching tackle, only misjudged technique, and the winger was spared a yellow card.

Lehmann, Dimitri Biscarro and Shorrocks all went off for injury assessments in quick succession, the latter failing to return to the field, before John Davies had to get patched up on the field after a blow to the face.

Yet the visitors suffered most when James Roumanos was taken out high by Eribe Doro just inside the Bulls half, earning the visiting forward a sin-bin.

Eribe Doro's yellow card was Bulls' second of the match, and like their first, it was to prove costly. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

And despite battling defence for the next six or seven minutes, Bradford were eventually made to pay with 12 men.

From close in, Maxime Stefani launched a superb long pass out to the left straight to Ulberg, who touched down in the corner.

With Shorrocks off the field injured, Rivett stepped up and landed a brilliant conversion from the touchline to level the scores.

Bulls looked instantly more secure with Doro back on the field, and after Ashall-Bott coughed up possession 30m out, they could have gone in front.

But with Lilley in the slot for a drop goal, Bradford got it wrong and a Tom Holmes pass to Kieran Gill was dropped forward.

Then it was Toulouse’s turn to mess up, as the ball slipped out of Rivett’s hands as he was in the perfect position dead centre, 25 metres out, to land the one-pointer.

Ebon Scurr was then bandaged up after getting a cut to the face from an unpenalised tackle and the valiant visitors had to dig so deep to keep Toulouse out at the end.

Ebon Scurr felt the full force of the Toulouse defence, as did several of his team-mates. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

They had a stroke of luck when Ulberg sprinted away down the left only for the pass to be correctly called forward, but they produced great goal line defence to keep Eloi Pellissier out, before Taufua knocked a dangerous kick through behind.

And Bulls only finally knew they had secured their point when a last-gasp tired drop goal attempt by the hosts from miles out fell well short.

TOULOUSE: Ashall-Bott, Ulberg, Rennie, Jussaume, Marcon, Rivett, Shorrocks, Belmas, Gahan, Hansen, Stefani, Peyroux, Marion. Interchanges: Pelissier, Roumanos, Armitage, Biscarro. 18th man: Dall’Asta.

BULLS: Holmes, Okunbor, Lehmann, Gill, Taufua, Ott, Lilley, Bayliss, Souter, Baldwinson, Fulton, Davies, Doro. Interchanges: Pele, Hallas, Scurr, Rogers. 18th man: Myers.

BULLS MAN OF THE MATCH: JAYDEN OKUNBOR.