Bradford Bulls suffer bruising defeat to Wakefield Trinity

Title favourites Wakefield Trinity emerged as 42-12 winners on home soil, but it was a night of total chaos, appropriately kicked off by a spectacular fireworks display to mark the opening of the new Neil Fox MBE standard.

The legendary Wakefield half-back and former Bradford Northern player, now the grand old age of 84, was in attendance, along with over 7,000 others, and he could only have been impressed by his modern-day equivalent Mason Lino.

The Samoan is a Super League player in all-but-name, and he cut Bulls to ribbons all night.

But it was not just the little scrum half causing carnage, as Jorge Taufua and Mitch Souter were both sent to the sin-bin, as was Wakefield’s Max Jowitt.

More problematic than that, Taufua’s yellow card came about through a head clash, and he never returned to the field from his HIA.

The influential Lee Gaskell came off with a damaged hamstring and then poor Dan Okoro suffered a broken jaw at the death.

Of those already out injured before the game, there is hope that all of Ebon Scurr, Ben Blackmore, Eribe Doro and Jordan Baldwinson will return by the end of next month, with Eliot Peposhi looking most likely to come back first, hopefully in time for the Good Friday derby at home to Halifax.

Mercifully, Joe Arundel only missed this game due to his wife being pregnant, so his absence was only very temporary, but it did mean Billy Jowitt had to be drafted into an unfamiliar centre position.

He started well there with a fine tackle in the corner to stop a try, then Aidan McGowan just got boot to ball to deny Matty Ashurst in the in-goal area.

But Wakefield had their well-deserved opening score after five minutes.

In a move he perfected during his younger days at Odsal, hooker Tom Doyle almost burrowed over.

He was stopped virtually on the line, but the ball was worked back to Lino, who darted forward, and offloaded for Josh Griffin to crash over.

Griffin clashed heads with Taufua in the act of scoring, with both going off for HIAs and the latter unluckily penalised after being deemed to have led headfirst in the tackle.

He was sin-binned for dangerous play, and to add insult to literal injury, Wakefield helped themselves to a rare eight-point try, Taufua’s infringement allowing the grateful Max Jowitt to knock over two conversions.

Poor Jorge Taufua (right) went off concussed, sin-binned and having inadvertently cost his team an eight-point try. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

Down to 12 men and already on the back foot before then, it looked a long way back for Bulls.

Yet all of a sudden, Kieran Gill made a stunning line break, slipping in between Jack Croft and Derrell Olpherts 80 metres out from the Wakefield line.

He charged up to halfway and McGowan kept pace with the centre, reeled in the inside pass and despite Max Jowitt's desperate attempt, the full-back just had enough pace to slide over the line.

Trinity looked briefly rattled, and after Luke Gale was sloppily caught offside in front of the try line, Jordan Lilley pinged over a simple penalty to draw his side level.

Keven Appo was able to come on for Bradford at that point as the sides got back to their full complement, with the Wakefield restart from Lilley’s score then flying straight out of play.

But Gaskell wasted the subsequent penalty by bananaing the kick on halfway out of play almost sideways, and Trinity soon regained their lost composure.

Bulls once again failed to deal with a darting Lino run, he slipped the ball out to Griffin once again, who was showing no ill effects from his head knock, to slide over on the right.

Max Jowitt's kick was not an easy one but it flew through the posts for 14-8.

Wakefield looked certain to score down the left through the prolific Lachlan Walmsley, but the left winger suddenly stopped dead five metres out.

That seemed to confuse Gaskell, who makes a high tackle and conceded a penalty.

After Isaiah Vagana (yes, you know his dad) went close following that infringement, Bulls were caught out by replacement hooker Liam Hood's quick thinking.

He exposed the gap left on the line by Mitch Souter and young loanee Lucas Green and stretched over to score, with Max Jowitt adding the simple extras.

Green’s fellow teenage loanee Harvey Wilson was trusted to start in the second row in Arundel’s absence and he, along with McGowan, was probably Bradford’s best player on the night.

The fearless 19-year-old’s best moment came late in the first half, when he slalomed through the middle and gained around 40 yards, only to be dragged down just short of the Wakefield line.

Bulls were on the attack, and after Gaskell’s kick to the right corner almost set up Jayden Myers to score, veteran hooker George Flanagan forced his way over the line, but was clearly held up.

Yet instead of Bulls closing the gap to 20-14 at the break, Wakefield scored a killer fourth try on the hooter to strike a dagger to the hearts of the visitors.

Gale bulleted a pass out to Walmsley on the left wing, and he charged down the line before slipping a pass inside for Oli Pratt to crash over.

The unlikely right side of Jowitt and Myers were caught out a little by that lightning fast move and when Max Jowitt converted superbly from the left, his fifth successful kick from five, Wakefield trotted back to the dressing rooms with a healthy 26-8 lead.

Trinity captain Jay Pitts and Max Jowitt almost extended the home advantage at the start of the second half, with the latter only denied by some sturdy defence from Keven Appo.

Illegal crossing meant Pratt's attempt to go over in the corner was invalidated but any relief Bulls felt over that escape soon vanished, as Gaskell limped off with an injured hamstring.

It had not been Lee Gaskell's best night anyway, with a hamstring injury just about rounding off his misery. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

With Bulls’ backs dropping like flies, both before and during the match, a chaotic reshuffle saw full back Billy Jowitt head to the left wing, young forward Wilson move into the centre and hooker Souter, sporting a head bandage from an earlier clash, playing in the halves alongside Lilley.

Surprisingly, that led to Bulls’ brightest spell of the half.

Billy Jowitt just failed to get a touch on Lilley’s grubber in time, patting it down on the dead-ball line rather than before it, before a ragged Trinity flew in on Flanagan then produced a late hit on Lilley to concede a penalty in their own half.

But Bradford failed to make the most of the set-piece, and Wakefield were soon on the front foot again.

An obscenely powerful run from prop Renouf Atoni needed about six Bradford players to stop him just before the line, but that left the visitors short on the right, and the ball was popped out to debutant Olpherts to stroll over.

Max Jowitt's kicking had been outstanding and he made no mistake once again from the right touchline to put his side 32-8 in front.

Hood then almost put Lino in for a deserved score, but off balance, the hooker chucked his pass it towards the half-back's shins and the ball was knocked on.

Souter then shed possession in contact in a heavy tackle and as Wakefield broke, a scrap broke out 20 metres from the Bradford line.

Sam Hallas and Dan Smith were among those involved and while Bulls were grateful to escape any sin-bins, they soon conceded their sixth try of the night.

The oustanding Lino burst through a gap, before feeding Max Jowitt on the inside, who flew gratefully over the whitewash

A big fight broke out in the aftermath in front of the fans behind the posts, seemingly for someone going in late on the try scorer as he touched the ball down.

After the chaos had died down, both Souter and Max Jowitt were sent to the sin-bin, meaning Lino had to take the conversion, which he did successfully.

Wakefield should have had a seventh score soon after, but Pratt's sloppy pass to set up a try went forward.

Instead it was Bulls who grabbed the next try, a real work of art like their first.

Gill flicked a pass to Billy Jowitt on the wing, the makeshift wide man dabbed a grubber inside, it bounced up kindly for the centre, who slid over on the left to score.

Kieran Gill's lovely late try at least ensured Bulls got points on the board in the second half. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

Lilley's conversion went way wide to the left but at least Bulls had clawed their way up to double figures at 38-12 down.

But it was Wakefield who deserved the final say and they did so in fine fashion with three minutes to go.

Lovely play between Lino and Gale in the halves saw the ball eventually flung out to Walmsley, who spectacularly dived over in the corner for his first league try in Wakefield colours.

Mercifully, Bulls just about kept out Trinity’s attempts to an eighth try, but their season will not be judged on what a heavily depleted side do against the league’s best team away from home on opening night.

Fail to heed the lessons from last night in the Good Friday derby at home to Halifax however, and more questions may need to be asked of Eamon O’Carroll’s men.

WAKEFIELD: M. Jowitt, Olpherts, Croft, Pratt, Walmsley, Gale, Lino, Bowden, Doyle, Atoni, Ashurst, Griffin, Pitts. Interchanges: Hood, Uele, Cozza, Vagana. 18th man: H. Smith.

BULLS: McGowan, Myers, Jowitt, Gill, Taufua, Gaskell, Lilley, Lawrence, Souter, D. Smith, Wilson, Butler, Hallas. Interchanges: Appo, Okoro, Flanagan, Green. 18th man: M. Scurr.

BULLS MAN OF THE MATCH: AIDAN MCGOWAN