Bradford Bulls should remain proud despite Toulouse defeat

Heartbreak is the only word to describe it for Eamon O’Carroll’s side, who will have felt well placed to go through to the final at 12-8 ahead with just 23 minutes to go.

Jayden Myers’ second half sinbin resulted in the game’s flow changing and ultimately, it proved a step too far for the visitors, who had already survived Kieran Gill’s sinbin period in the first half.

Temperatures were still at 25 degrees Celsius when kick-off came around, at 5:00 pm (local time).

As well as having to adapt to the sweltering conditions in the South of France, Eamon O’Carroll’s side also had to deal with the last-minute absence of Tom Holmes.

The Bradford fullback wasn’t included in the matchday squad which, particularly on recent form, represented a huge blow for the visitors.

To make matters worse, Bulls were 8-0 down after just eight minutes of the contest.

O’Carroll’s side fumbled the ball from kick-off which immediately gave the French outfit some territorial advantage from the get-go.

Toulouse worked the ball right to Benjamin Laguerre and he made no mistake in punishing the visitors to score an unconverted try.

The hosts doubled their advantage just six minutes later (8), but this effort came from the left flank.

Paul Ulberg gratefully accepted the ball out wide and he darted over in the corner to get his side’s second try of the evening. Once again, the conversion went narrowly wide to make sure it remained 8-0 to Toulouse.

However, Bulls were by no means done and showed a great deal of character and bravery to bring themselves back into the game.

Eamon O'Carroll has instilled a 'never say die' attitude into this Bradford side (Image: Tom Pearson)

Olly Ashall-Bott dropped a high kick from Jarrod Sammut, and Keven Appo was first to react to the situation to power his way towards the Toulouse line.

Backed up by Gill, the ball was moved swiftly to Lilley to burst his way through the home side’s defence to touch down. Bradford’s no7 also added the conversion to make it 8-6 in favour of the hosts.

Gill was then sent to the sinbin for a high tackle leaving the away side in a precarious position in the lead up to the half-time break.

But Bradford’s big men stepped up to the plate, with Jayden Okunbor making a remarkable break from inside his own half.

He then laid the ball off to Franklin Pele, and he bulldozed his way past the final Toulouse defender to spark jubilant celebrations amongst the travelling Bradford army.

Lilley converted to give the visitors a 12-8 lead heading into the break.

After the interval, Gill thought he’d added to Bradford’s tally but an alleged forward pass from Jorge Taufua brought an abrupt end to the celebrations.

The game then turned on its head, as Myers mistimed a tackle to be given his marching orders for a ten-minute period.

And the hosts made full use of their man advantage, scoring two converted tries in the space of five minutes through Guy Armitage and Anthony Marion, both efforts coming down the left-hand side.

Appo crashed over for the Bulls with two minutes remaining, and Lilley converted to set up a grandstand finish at 21-20 in favour of the home team.

However, Bulls were guilty of a number of handling errors in the final moments of the contest, which halted any chance of a sensational and dramatic comeback.

All being said, Bradford and O’Carroll can be proud of the team’s effort on Sunday, and they can also be proud of the season as a whole. There has been vast improvements and Bulls are on the up again!

Bulls’ lineup: Max Lehmann, Jayden Okunbor, Jayden Myers, Kieran Gill, Jorge Taufua, Jarrod Sammut, Jordan Lilley, Michael Lawrence, Sam Hallas, Eribe Doro, Keven Appo, Zac Fulton, Daniel Smith.

Interchange: Franklin Pele, Ebon Scurr, Harvey Makin, Mitchel Souter and John Davies (18th man).