Rovers suffer at hands of Reds

A poor afternoon for the Humberside outfit started early as the West Yorkshire side took a third-minute lead.

The try was forged in somewhat lucky circumstances, when a high Iestyn Harris ball saw Rovers full-back Ben Cockayne and winger Mark Lennon collide. Jon Goddard tidied up but lost possession - leaving Sam Burgess to collect the opening try, converted by Harris.

With Cockayne off the field Ian Hardman went to full-back and in the 10th minute he also had to leave the field with a head injury after stopping a Tame Toupu charge down the wing.

A Bradford move down the right saw Terry Newton make it 10-0 to the Bulls with an unconverted try in the 16th minute. And to add to Rovers' woes Glenn Morrison added a third try, converted by Harris, with a move which appeared to contain at least two forward passes.

Four minutes later Ian Henderson's try made it 20-0, which was improved to 22-0 by a conversion from Harris. And a flowing move from inside their own half saw Marcus St Hilaire's try, converted by Harris, increased the visitors' advantage to 28-0. But three minutes before the break Mark Lennon put in Goddard for Rovers' opening try.

Rovers came out with much more purpose for the second period and put some pressure on the Bradford defence.

James Webster's superb 40-20 in the 50th minute kept the heat on the Bulls and when Paul Cooke saw his pass intercepted by Harris, he made amends by chasing down the Bulls' half-back.

On the hour Ben Fisher worked a neat little move with Jim Gannon to squeeze his way over - and Cooke's conversion made it 28-10.

At least the 6,695 fans saw some spirit from the Robins - but the Red and Whites had far to much to do to catch a streetwise outfit like the Bulls.