Bradford Bulls 12 St Helens 8: Bradford triumph was for fans, says Pryce as Saints are sunk

BEFORE Saturday, the previous time Karl Pryce played at Odsal with Bradford Bulls they were world club champions and St Helens sat on the verge of a record-breaking fifth Super League title.

That was 2006. Few would have imagined then that two giants, who had shared nine of the first 11 championships during the summer era, would this morning be sat in seventh and ninth place respectively.

Admittedly, the Yorkshire club have endured a well-documented slide in the intervening six years but Saints have since featured in five successive Grand Finals so their hazardous position is glaringly unfamiliar.

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And on Monday, the Saints parted company with head coach Royce Simmons just seven matches into the Stobart Super League season following the club’s disastrous start.

Simmons, who was in the second year of a two-year contract, guided Saints to a fifth successive Grand Final last October but has paid the price for the club’s worst ever run in the summer era.

Saturday’s 12-8 loss at Bradford was their fourth straight defeat and they have taken just a point from their last five matches, their worst run since 1985.

Simmons’ right-hand man Kieron Purtill has also stepped down and Saints have appointed head of performance Mike Rush as acting head coach, with former captain Keiron Cunningham as his assistant

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St Helens chairman Eamonn McManus said: “Our season has got off to a difficult start and it is best to make change sooner rather than later.

“We have every faith in Mike Rush and Keiron Cunningham. They each know the club inside out and have all the experience together to take us forward.”

Dogged Bradford, however, ensured Saints suffered a fourth successive league defeat for the first time in 23 years with Pryce scoring one try and having a crucial foot in their other as they shrugged off a massive injury list to edge a gritty affair.

It means beleaguered St Helens, sorely missing James Roby’s inspiration, have suffered their worst run in Super League history.

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The hunt for a first win in six games will not get any easier as they host champions Leeds Rhinos in a Grand Final re-match on Sunday before meeting Warrington and then Wigan.

Determined Bradford continued their recent mini-renaissance and offered further evidence that they could finally end their three-year absence from the play-offs.

It was a first home win since September and the hulking Pryce’s 42nd-minute try proved the difference.

Ben Jeffries, again so measured at stand-off, hoisted a high kick to the right touchline which the hapless Jamie Foster inexplicably let bounce, hoping it would go into touch but instead only allowing the predatory winger to pounce.

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“It was brilliant to get out there again at Odsal for my second home debut,” Pryce told the Yorkshire Post; he made his initial bow in 2003, moving to Gloucester three years later.

“But it was more special just to see how much it means to the fans.

“I know, especially being a Bradford lad who came through during those glory days, it has been tough here for a few years but the supporters always turn up.

“We knew all about the home record, losing our first three here, yet, to be fair, we had played top-four sides.

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“We spoke during the week about the need to get a win against Saints and we did that for the supporters. I’ve not had many victories against them, either with Bradford or anyone, so it was a great feeling.

“Slowly, we’re getting performances. We started the season cold and were playing a little dumb but we’ve begun looking after the ball better now and that means we’re wasting less energy defending.”

The transformation in Bradford’s defence has certainly been astounding; in their first two league games at Odsal this term they conceded a total of 88 points against Wigan and Catalan, proving particularly vulnerable down the middle.

However, after showing far more grit in a valiant loss to Warrington, and picking up three straight wins on the road, they were hurt just twice on Saturday evening.

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Even then there had been a clear forward pass from Anthony Laffranchi to set Jon Wilkin clear for Saints’ first try in the 22nd minute. Though Jason Crookes did brilliantly well to cut down the supporting Paul Wellens, Gary Wheeler and Lee Gaskell combined slickly to usher their team-mate over in the next play.

Saints’ only other success came in the final seconds when Francis Meli exposed them from long range out wide but by then the resilient hosts had done enough for a deserved success.

After that Dixon setback, Bradford responded when Wellens failed to deal with Jeffries’s deft chip, Pryce just getting a nudge to the bouncing ball for Elliott Whitehead to profit with his fourth try of the season.

As he touched down, however, the England Knights second-row also copped a boot in the head from Foster as the Saints winger tried to clear.

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He was placed on report and it also meant Bradford received that rarity of a penalty in front of the posts as well as the conversion.

Paul Sykes, called in from the cold following Jarrod Sammut’s suspension, successfully kicked both for an 8-4 interval lead.

After Pryce’s try – he also scored at Hull KR a week earlier in his first game since returning to Bradford via Wigan and Harlequins – the erring Foster was sin-binned for a professional foul.

However, with the Bulls wasting chances during his absence, it seemed the hosts may pay after Gaskell sparked a rare Saints break.

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Fortunately, Tony Puletua embarrassingly coughed up a gift pass from Wellens to let their opponents off and so, on Sunday, Bradford head to Salford bidding for a third successive win.

“It will be tough,” added Pryce. “They’ve a terrific coach in Phil Veivers – I worked under him at Bradford and Wigan – and Sean Long, too, so they’re going to be a threat and we’ve still a way to go. “But we are getting there.”

Bradford Bulls: Kearney; Pryce, Purtell, Lulia, Crookes; Sykes, Jeffries; Hargreaves, Diskin, Maunokafoa, Elima, Whitehead, Bateman. Substitutes: L’Estrange, Burgess, Elima, Addy.

St Helens: Wellens; Makinson, Shenton, Meli, Foster; Wheeler, Gaskell; Laffranchi, Hohaia, Puletua, Dixon, Wilkin, Clough. Substitutes: Flanagan, Perry, Flannery, Ashe.

Referee: Richard Silverwood (Mirfield).