Brave effort fails to halt rampant Bulls!

Aug 4 2003 By Chris Roberts, The Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Bradford Bulls 30 - 16 Giants. Battered squad win proud salute from Smith

Yet that apart, the remainder of the contest belonged to the Giants.

The spark to the revival came almost inevitably from ex-Bulls man Costin five minutes before the break.

From a scrum move close to the Bulls' line, O'Doherty fed his fellow countryman to give Costin a record-equalling ninth successive Super League try, converted by McNamara.

Radford's late first-half score made it 30-6 at the break, but the Giants dominated for the rest of the match.

Stanley Gene twice came close to scoring and Costin was held up on the line as the visitors ran their hosts ragged.

And it was no great surprise when McNamara fed Darren Fleary to plunge over from 10m out on the hour mark.

But the sweetest moment was reserved for nine minutes later when Paul White marked his Super League debut with the try of mthe game.

Much of the credit, however, has to go to Ben Cooper who somehow took the ball off Chris Bridge in a one-on-one tackle when the former Giants half-back charged over the line.

Cooper immediately raced upfield and fed White on the Giants' 20 who outpaced the cover to score what will hopefully be the first of many tries at this level.

MATCH FACTS

GIANTS: Cooper, O'Hare, Costin, Bailey, Whittaker, Gene, March, Fleary, Turner, Gannon, Morrison, Roarty, O'Doherty; Grayshon, McNamara, Slicker, White

BULLS: Reardon, Gilmour, Naylor, Hape, Vainokolo, Deacon, Vagana, Smith, Anderson, Gartner, Peacock, Forshaw; Bridge, Langley, Parker, Radford

KEY MAN: PAUL WHITE

THE young scrum half has had to wait a long time to make his Super League debut, but is was worth waiting for. Thrown in at the deep end following the 18th-minute departure of Paul March with a rib injury, White crowned an excellent display with a stunning long-range try.

KEY MOMENT:

WITH the score just 8-0 after 12 minutes, Lesley Vainikolo produced a superb defensive play to gather Brandon Costin's chip through when a Giants try looked likely. But from the Bulls' next set they grabbed a second try to make it 14-0 instead of a possible 8-6.

KEY STATS:

Bradford. Tries: Reardon (7mins), Deacon (13mins & 20mins), Vainikolo (25mins), Radford (37mins). Goals: Deacon 5 from 6.

Huddersfield. Tries: Costin (35mins), Fleary (60mins), White (69mins). Goals: McNamara 2 from 3.

Half-time: 30-6.

Referee: Ashley Klein (London).

Attendance: 11,368.

Scrums won: Bradford 7, Huddersfield 6.

Penalties conceded: Bradford 6, Huddersfield 14.

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