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06 September 2008 | 18:00 KO
Date confirmed - This is not a televised fixture.

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CLINICAL BULLS PILE PRESSURE ON TIGERS

Report written by Daniel Kemp

Castleford Tigers (14) 24

Tries: Shenton, Mcgoldrick, Westerman, Wainright, Dorn

Goals: Dixon, Westerman

Bradford Bulls (28) 46

Tries: Sykes, Newton, Burgess, Morrison, Langley, Platt, Jeffries, Finnigan

Goals: Deacon 7.

Attendence:7855

Bradford bulls came back from an early 10 point defecit to run in 8 tries past the bottom club Castleford to heap more pressure on Tigers coach Terry Matterson.

The Tigers coach was met with a chorus of Boo's as he crossed the field at half time and full time as he saw his side ripped apart by a clinical Bulls outfit.

Castleford missing star half back Brent Sherwin through injury and Matt Cook, who was ineligible to play against the club he is loaned from, started the game very well and looked dangerous in the early plays.

Tigers soon took command in this match when Ryan Mcgoldrick took on the defensive line and offloaded to the onrushing Joe Westerman who managed to break clear and delay the ball for the support of Michael Shenton who raced in for an easy try. The conversion attempt was missed but the tigers had an early 4 point lead.

The tigers were then disallowed 2 try’s from winger Michael Wainright, The first looked a perfectly good try where players from both teams competed for a high ball, this bounced to the Tigers winger who was disappointed to see the try ruled out for an illegal challenge in the air. The second wasn’t a try although unfortunate, The Bulls had tried a nifty grubber kick in behind the tigers line when the ball flicked off one tigers player into the arms of Wainright who was half a yard in front, and his 100 yard dash up the field was in vein as the referee had already blown for the penalty to the bulls.

The excellent Mcgoldrick who reverted to stand off in the absence of Sherwin was on hand to score a second soon after though when he pounced on a deft grubber kick from half back partner Luke Dorn, this was goaled and the tigers were 10-0 up.

This lead didn’t last long though as the bulls hit straight back through centre Paul Sykes who ran a great angled run to latch on to a Ben Jeffries pass and go over for a simple but classy try. Paul Deacon missed his only conversion attempt of the day but the bulls were up and running.

The tigers defence was failing early on as more good play from Deacon made a gap for hooker Terry Newton to burst through from close range to bring the bulls within 2 points, of which Paul Deacon made no mistake of wiping out with his next conversion attempt.

The tigers were already looking as they had to score next for fear the game would run away from them, and they obliged to exploit some bad defensive decisions from the Bulls players. Luke Dorn sent out a long defence stretching pass out and when both Ben Jeffries and James Evans burst out of the line to intercept the pass, it left a huge gap in the defence for the impressive teenager Joe Westerman to race over from 25 metres to claim his 9th try of the season, Kirk Dixon missed another attempt at goal which left the tigers with a slender but deserved 4 point lead.

The tigers defence fell apart though in the next 5 minutes conceding 3 tries and effectively the match, The first of these went to Man of the match Sam Burgess who latched onto a Glenn Morrison offload to power his way past 3 or 4 tigers defenders and stretch out over the line, Deacon goaled a simple conversion and the Bulls led for the first time. It only took 2 minutes for the next try from Bradford and once again it was woeful defence that allowed them to score, Jamie Langley made a break down the right hand side, splitting the tigers defence up the middle, a quick play of the ball and a well judged Ben Jeffries grubber left an easy score for chasing Glenn Morrison, Paul Deacon goaled again to give the bulls a 22-14 lead and the tigers were desperate to get to half time without conceding again.

This wasn’t to be, the tigers kicked off and on the second play former tiger Michael Platt stepped 2 defenders to race 40 metres then offload to Semi Tadulala who looked almost certain to score and would have done if it wasn’t for the fantastic Michael Shenton who managed to get back with a superb tackle just metres short of the line. The young centre only delayed the inevitable though, the tigers defence was still toiling up field when the bulls played the ball and they had 4 men to just the 1 tigers defender, and Michael Korkidas struggles to stop players 1 on 1 so he didn’t stand a chance and Jamie Langley dived over just to the right of the posts and when Deacon goaled to give the bulls a 28-14 lead I think the tigers fans knew it would be damaged limitation again as they had conceded 5 tries in 40 minutes at home , Far too much for any side.

The tigers were met by a few boo’s from the fans as they left the field, the fans who were still upset from the embarrassment in Cardiff and want answers from there club. Terry Matterson was given the same treatment as he headed to the dressing room at half time from his position in the stand.

The second half started much the same as the first had, the bulls were conceding penalties and Paul Deacon was warned for a second time in the match and shortly after another penalty led to James Evans been sin binned for persistent infringements and shortly after Michael Wainright was putting the ball over the line for the 3rd time, but unlike on the two previous occasions, this try would stand. Simple rugby from Castleford led to space out wide for Wainright to dive over and give the tigers a glimmer of hope, Westerman landed the touchline conversion and this brought the tigers back within 8 points.

The game was starting to spice up, When Ryan Mcgoldrick ran across the face of the defence he couldn’t find the man with his pass under pressure from Semi Tadulala who then preceded to abuse him while he was on the floor, The tigers stand off took exception to this but unlike in previous years kept his cool. The next Bulls try came on the back of another flare up though, when Craig Huby put in a huge shot high on the bulls man, a few players ran in to spark something out of nothing and led to a bulls player been warned for charging in. The bulls chose to run the ball from the penalty and when it looked like there was nothing on, a simple change of direction and burst of pace from Michael Platt saw him slice through the tigers defence and dive over under the posts, another example of the weak tigers defence was on show here and when deacon goaled he restored a 14 point advantage for the Bulls.

It only took 4 minutes for Jeffries to latch on to a good ball again from Deacon and go over for a deserved try and put the appalling defence to the sword again and deacon once again goaled and it was a question of how many now for Bradford. 40 – 20 to the bulls.

More embarrassing attempts at tackling led Paul Sykes to be able to shrug off a few tigers defenders to send in substitute Simon Finnigan over for another 4 and inevitable 6 points to the Bulls and times were bleak for the tigers, whose fans were not holding back with there frustrations. The chorus of Boo’s were ringing out for certain players, namely Awen Guttenbeil and Michael Korkidas and also pressure was been placed on Chief Executive Richard Wright, Tigers Football Manager Michael Robinson and Tigers Head Coach Terry Matterson, all these key figures seem to have lost the faith of the tigers faithful who have seen there team conceded 182 points in 4 games and spent thousands of pounds already this season following there beloved team. The Tigers managed to hold the bulls out for the rest of the game and even got the last say in the match when Luke Dorn pounced on a loose ball to race over from 40 metres in the corner, This was small consolation for the tigers who now have to look to a difficult match on bank holiday Monday at Warrington for further national embarrassment on sky TV.

The tigers fans stayed till the end of the match both to place pressure on the Board of Directors and coach and to applaud the team for there efforts on the day, there were a few Boo’s mixed in when the team went to thank the fans but these were aimed at the powers above not the squad. The team had tried, they just weren’t good enough and weren’t fit enough and a lot of work has to be done in training to get them up to Super League standard.

There were positives for the Tigers though, Ryan Mcgoldrick shaped extremely well at 6 without a recognised 7 at the side of him and when his best mate Brent Sherwin returns they could strike up a great partnership together, Youngster Joe Westerman once again had a great game and is pushing himself into contention for a place in the England squad for the mid season international and also England world cup squad. Michael Shenton pushed himself into the limelight with a strong performance and under-rated players Ned Catic and Michael Wainright also had very strong games but on the whole the tigers were overpowered by a fitter and much more clinical Bradford Bulls outfit who now sit in the top 4 and can set there sights on second spot.

Tigers coach Terry Matterson had this to say: “Its again disappointing to have scored 24 and had the opportunities to score more tries, but we are still continually conceding tries. I think we were the better side for the opening 20 minutes but we made three mistakes and we are 16-14 down. We were always chasing the game after that, pushing passes, etc, but it comes back to our defence – its not technique – it’s about working together.”

“We are all in this together and have to come up with better. The spectators have been disgruntled since the Wakefield performance and I can understand that – we are in a tough competition and we have won just two games so they are bound to be frustrated. We have to remember where we have come from and things will get better.”

These views wont be shared by the majority of fans who are struggling to see where the next win is going to come and are baffled how the same team who can beat both of last years super league grand finalists, still find themselves with only two wins on the board.

Bulls coach Steve McNamara had this to say: “I thought we scored some spectacular tries but hurt ourselves with some real ‘Brain Explosions’, We were under some heavy pressure because Cas had already taken two major scalps – and they always come out firing. We are pleased we have come here and got the points but both coaches are probably a bit disappointed that errors and penalties le to so many of the tries.”

“Our performance was erratic and, although we have some players who are coming into form, we have a short turn-around with a game against Leeds on Friday and we know we have to improve on that performance” The Bulls will have to beat Leeds on Friday if they hold any hopes of claiming the minor premiership from the rhinos who are currently 8 points ahead of the bulls.

Monday, May 19, 2008

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