Bradford Bulls delighted with trio of talented young props

After a dreadful start to life in England with Hull FC in Betfred Super League earlier this year, many had written him off and expected him to return to the other side of the world as quickly as he had arrived.

Yet Bulls took a chance on him in the summer, and he has taken the Championship by storm, leaving destruction in his wake.

He terrified Dewsbury last night, scoring two tries that showcased his immense power in all its glory, with the second seeing him even throw a bit of quick feet in for good measure.

And it was fitting that he held off a desperate defence in the dying seconds to set up Keven Appo for Bulls’ ninth try of the night, as they destroyed the rock-bottom Rams 54-0.

Pele is certainly unique, and head coach Eamon O’Carroll told the T&A after the game: “He does bring something different to the table.

“With Franklin, you can see how important he is to us and how well liked he is by the rest of the group.

“But I think we’re really lucky as a team because it’s not just Franklin, Harvey Makin and Ebon Scurr punch those holes in defences too.

“I’m really pleased to see Ebon back, I nearly didn’t select him, but Logan (Bayliss) pulled out late on in the week in training.

“That would have been a tough decision, because Ebon feels like he’s ready to go and we know how important he is to us.

“I want him to play for the rest of the year without any disruption now, and it’s nice to be able to bring those three on and know they can all create something.

“I still think we can get better in that department, and I think people around them can help with that.”

Scurr is a popular homegrown talent, making his debut for the club as a teenager five years ago, and his try in the second half brought one of the biggest cheers of the night.

Ebon Scurr was his usual threat to the opposition defence last night. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

O’Carroll reflected: “Ebon will get even better now he’s back.

“He’s had a tough year, just with little bits of disruption, but tonight he was in good nick, looking powerful, fit and strong.

“We could have kept him on, but we just made the decision that he’d done enough.

“He played around 43 minutes, which is a great stint for someone who’d come back from a long time out.”

It was a feelgood atmosphere after the game, with Bulls having the luxury of putting their feet up and letting the rest of the weekend’s results, in a tense play-off race, unfold knowing they had done their jobs already.

O’Carroll said: “It’s good to have got our win out of the way early and it’s nice to have a change to the week, with the chance to freshen some lads up.

“This came at a great time for us, as this was game 22 in the league, on top of all those cup games and friendlies we had.

“Playing tonight gives the lads the chance to spend some time with their families this weekend, go away and do whatever they want to do with them.

“We know that after that they’ll still come in on Monday and make sure they get their prep right for next week’s game with Sheffield, so it’s been nice to be able to have this opportunity.”

And despite making seven changes to the side that took on Doncaster, Michael Lawrence, Mitch Souter, Eribe Doro, Jarrod Sammut and Max Lehmann were all simply rested.

Michael Lawrence played a big part at Doncaster, but that game only came five days prior to the Dewsbury one. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

With Jorge Taufua suspended for a game, that meant only Bayliss of those who dropped out is of any sort of injury concern.

O’Carroll said: “A lot of those lads have played big minutes, but we did just want to be extra-careful with Eribe.

“He’s missed a few games with injuries this year, and had a couple of suspensions, and though he more than makes up for that when he plays, we just thought it was the right thing to do for him with this short turnaround after Doncaster.

“The same with Bruno (Lawrence), we just thought it was an unnecessary risk to play him, because of how important he is too us, especially in terms of his leadership.

“We were certainly a lot quieter than usual before the game, which was one thing I really noticed, not having Bruno in the squad.

“But we got it done without him, and I thought it was important that we gave opportunities for other lads to take that kind of leadership role.

“We had an element of calmness about us, and the lads looked pretty focused, so it was the right decision not to play Bruno tonight.”