Recap
After a turbulent two weeks at the South Leeds Stadium Hunslet showed a bit of grit and determination against Bradford Bulls at Odsal
Consecutive home defeats by 0-58 and 6-72 meant the trip to Bradford was a daunting task, with most fans expecting a drubbing. But in the end it wasn’t until an hour in that Bradford put the game to bed with Hunslet’s discipline slipping late on.
With the departure of Head Coach Dean Muir in the week Kyle Trout and Michael Knowles took the reins and decided to try Kobe Rugless at scrum half and loan player Brad Gallagher in the second row.
As expected Bradford’s big pack got on the front foot from the off and Hunslet had to hang on in defence. But The Parksiders defensive shape was excellent and they held the line well marshalled by Jimmy Watson at full-back.
Hunslet were unlucky not to the take the lead when Mackenzie Turner intercepted and sprinted away to score, but the Ref brought him back to award Bradford a penalty for obstruction.
More defence after penalties meant both Jimmy Watson and Lloyd McEwan-Peters had to hold the line, but occasionally Hunslet did venture forward in attack, Billy Jowitt testing Bradford with his kicks.
The first try came on 23 minutes when Jordan Lilley spotted a prone Jimmy Watson on the floor and stepped over to score a simple but well-read try. Lilley converting 6-0
Bradford came again, but Hunslets defence held well. Although Will Kirby was held up for Hunslet, the last kick was generally too strong as they missed the likes of Lee Gaskell and Lachy Hanneghan at half-back.
Although Bradford looked to have scored the ref called no try, and even attacking on the left with Konrad Hurrell Nichol and Welham held firm and Hunslet were still in it at the break 6-0.
At the start of the second period Hunslet went on the front foot to score, but could not break the Bradford defence, even though Rugless and Corbett came close.
On 48 minutes after Hunslet were dragged into touch the Bulls found a space with quick passing to the left and Kieran Gill went over to score. 10-0.
3 minutes later a Bradford man wriggled out of a tackle and Jayden Okunbor found space on the right hand side to score. Lilley converting. 16-0 would the floodgates now open?
Hunslet were starting to concede penalties, but still found time to attack as Sam Campbell went close.
On 66 minutes the game was put to bed when Tom Holmes was taken high by Coby Nichol and the referee awarded a penalty try. It got worse for Hunslet as Nichol was sin-binned and Jordan Lilley converted both try and penalty to make it an 8 pointer. 24-0
On 70 minutes Gill scored his second when a depleted Hunslet couldn’t cover their right edge. 28-0 and now the game got a bit disrupted. Sam Webb-Campbell and Bayley Liu were both sent off for fighting and Keelan Foster was sin-binned for Hunslet for a late tackle.
Although Corbett and Rugless again came close to getting Hunslet on the scoreboard, numbers told when Waqa Blake scored from a nice pass after Jimmy Watson had made a tackle to wrap it up at 34-0.
All in all it was a brave display from Hunslet. They could have easily conceded a large score after the last few games, but defended well in the first half at least. Ultimately they were short in attack and couldn’t find a try either side of half time which would have rattled Bradford.
The game turned a bit ugly late on, but no backwards step was given. Hunslet move on to a home fixture next Friday against Featherstone Rovers (July 11th 7.30pm) whom they came close to beating 3 weeks ago.
Mason Corbett, Will Kirby and Jimmy Watson shone for Hunslet with Brad Gallagher making an impressive debut.
BRADFORD BULLS – Hooley, Okundor, Blake, Hurrell, Gill, Holmes, Meadows, Scurr, Lilley, Bayliss, Fulton, Liu, Doro, Mason, Ott, Michael, Waine, Peposhi.
HUNSLET – Watson, Nichol, Welham, Lloyd-Peters, Turner, Jowitt, Rugless, Hallas, Corbett, Foster, Gallagher, Kirby, Fletcher, Berry, Clavering, O’Hanlon, Webb-Campbell, Syme.