Widnes Vikings 25, Bradford Bulls 6

 

BRADFORD Bulls, missing 10 players who are either injured or suspended, led 6-4 at half-time at the DCBL Stadium, but could create little in the second half in falling to a 25-6 defeat yesterday.

Max Lehmann got the Bulls try, which Jordan Lilley converted superbly, but once Widnes Vikings got a head of steam up in the second half, the visitors could not counter-act their momentum.

Left winger Ryan Ince, who got Widnes on the board in the first half, completed his hat-trick in the second half to be named their man of the match, and late tries were added by right winger Mike Butt and loose forward Max Roberts, with influential scrum half Tom Gilmore adding two goals and a drop goal.   

Only one of the Bulls players who have recently been injured made it as far as their 17, and that was Dan Okoro, who started on the bench.

Missing injured are Lee Gaskell, Chester Butler, Michael Lawrence, Dan Smith, Billy Jowitt and Jordan Baldwinson, while Jayden Okunbor is still awaiting his visa clearance, and out due to suspension are Jorge Taufua (missing his second game of three), Ebon Scurr (missing his second game of two) and Eribe Doro (missing his first game of two)

The key questions before kick-off was how disruptive to the Bulls were all those that were missing and would a youthful bench will be able to cope with Widnes' physicality when they took to the pitch?

There was nothing to choose between the teams early doors as the game was largely played in midfield

The first penalty went to the Bulls as hooker Jordan Johnstone was too aggressive in challenging for a loose ball inside the Bulls 20, but Widnes soon won a penalty of their own as Joe Lyons was high tackled running out of defence after smartly seizing on a grubber kick.

But the Widnes defence was up to snuff in the opening 10 minutes. However, they were starting to be penned in their own half, and the visitors broke the deadlock with a try by Lehmann on the right wing halfway through the half after a quick pass by centre Jayden Myers, who later went off for a head injury assessment.

Lilley nailed the kick from near the right-hand touchline to extend the Bulls advantage to 6-0, but Widnes were always a threat via scrum half Tom Gilmore, and he almost created something out of nothing.

Firstly he collected his own chip ahead on the bounce and then kicked ahead under pressure, with the ball rolling dead just in front of advancing centre Jack Owens, who was making his 250th career appearance.

However, the half-back then created a try with a long pass to the left which gave winger Ince the chance to gather and dive over, leaving Bulls 6-4 to the good, although the then hosts blew a big chance just before the interval when Butt fumbled the ball near the touchline when if he had caught it it looked to be a certain score.

After half-time, Harvey Makin fumbled just inside the Widnes half, but the Bulls survived by pushing a Widnes player into touch on the far side of the field.

The crowd were trying to get behind the Vikings and it paid off as the Bulls were caught out via their right-hand defence as a flat pass gave Ince his second try in the 54th minute, with the visiting defence drawn slightly infield.

Gilmore hooked the conversion attempt, but Widnes still led 8-6. 

Full back Tom Holmes puts the Bulls under further pressure by getting too far ahead of an up and under and knocking on, giving Widnes head and feed 15 metres out, and they made it count when Ince went over for his hat-trick to make it 12-6 just inside the hour.

This time Gilmore over compensated and put the kick too far the other side of the posts

Momentum was firmly with the Vikings now as John Davies erred just inside the Widnes half.

The Bulls were in need of inspiration, but things only got worse as Butt went over on the right to make it 16-6, and Gilmore nailed the difficult kick, which just had the legs to go over.

There were ten minutes left for the Bulls to salvage something, but little seemed to be going right for them in the second half, and Gilmore sealed the deal with a drop goal to extend Widnes’ advantage to three scores at 19-6

Then the home side won a penalty for one last attack and they made it pay with a short pass putting in Roberts by the posts.

The hooter sounded and Gilmore nailed by far his easiest conversion to make final score 25-6.

Widnes: Roby; Butt, Bardsley-Rowe, Owens, Ince; Lyons, Gilmore; Kirk, Johnstone, Murray, Lloyd, Wilde, Roberts. Interchange: Fozard, Brooks, Bent, Green.

Bulls: Holmes; Lehmann, Myers, Gill, Tindall; Ott, Lilley; Bayliss-Brow, Souter, Pele, Davies, Fulton, Hallas. Interchange: Appo, Okoro, Makin, Fishwick.

Referee: Ryan Cox. Touch judges: Alex Cameron, Tommy Gibbs.

Attendance: 3,065