Bradford Bulls 24 Harlequins 22: Grieving Kopczak battles through to help Bulls

Andy Kopczak, a former player with Bradford amateur club Dudley Hill, lost his battle with cancer a week ago at the age of 43.

“It’s hats off to him throughout all this,” Bulls assistant coach Francis Cummins said of the 24-year-old.

“He’s done his family proud with the way he handled himself throughout a difficult time.”

With Kopczak making a big impression off the bench, Bradford came from 6-0 down to establish a 24-10 lead after 62 minutes thanks to tries from Paul Sykes, Matt Diskin, Brett Kearney and Olivier Elima.

Harlequins set up a tense finish when former Bradford centre Karl Pryce, making his first trip back to Odsal since his move to rugby union five years ago, completed a hat-trick of tries but it was not enough to prevent a third successive defeat for the Londoners and coach Rob Powell admitted his side did not deserve to win.

“We ended up lowering our standards in a poor game,” he said.

“There were two teams making errors and giving away penalties, neither took the game by the scruff of the neck.

“We didn’t create the momentum or build pressure until the last 15 minutes when we scored some tries and it probably wouldn’t have been a fair reflection if we had won the game in the end because we didn’t deserve to.

“Anyone can come back into a game at the end because a team has won already.”

Powell took delight from the performance of Pryce, who took his try tally to five in six appearances of his loan spell from Wigan, and the debut of 20-year-old prop Rob Thomas.

“He was very good,” said Powell.

“He looked threatening and I thought he defended really strong as well.

“He was our main positive, that and another London kid making his debut for the club. Other than that, there wasn’t too much for us to shout about today.”

Bradford also had a young local prop forward making his debut in 18-year-old Tom Burgess, younger brother of England international Sam, as they held on for a scratchy victory despite the absence of six regulars through injury.

“I thought he did very well,” said Cummins.

“He’s a big unit and he takes some stopping. He’s very enthusiastic, he just needs to find his feet at this level.

“I knew Harlequins would keep going to the end. We’ve got the two points and that’s all we were after.

“We still need to improve in some areas. We’re getting game time with each other, we’re still finding our feet.”

Pryce almost had four tries, being turned on his back over the line, as Harlequins made Bradford fight all the way for the points.

Powell’s men began the season in sensational form with four wins from the first five matches before suffering a club record defeat at Warrington but yesterday’s performance will renew their confidence.

Harlequins were the better side in a scrappy opening quarter.

Dangerous full-back Luke Dorn was put through a gap by Chris Bailey only to be recalled for a forward pass but the visitors drew first blood on 15 minutes when Pryce took Chad Randall’s long, lofted pass to grab his first try.

The Bulls struggled to hold onto the greasy ball and the biggest cheer from the home crowd came after 31 minutes when 18-year-old forward Tom Burgess went on for his Super League debut.

And the youngster immediately caught the eye with some strong running that appeared to lift Mick Potter’s men, who struck twice in the last four minutes of the first half.

The pressure on the Quins line built steadily, with the impressive Kopczak reaching the line only to be denied by Dorn’s rearguard efforts and winger Shaun Ainscough missed a clear-cut chance when he dropped Brett Kearney’s high kick with the line beckoning.

The Bulls eventually drew level when second rower Olivier Elima, who had twice spilled the ball, this time clung onto Kearney’s pass to touch down and Patrick Ah Van’s conversion edged them in front.

Harlequins succumbed a second time in the last move of the half when hooker Diskin took Marc Herbert’s short pass to force his way over for a second try that made it 10-4.

The Londoners might have crumbled after conceding such ill-timed points but they hit back to draw level within three minutes of the restart when Pryce took Randall’s pass and wrong-footed the Bradford defence to score his second try.

However, Bradford quickly reasserted their authority as Harlequins let their discipline slip and scrum half Herbert came into his own.

They regained the lead when Kearney gathered his fellow Australian’s high kick to force his way over the line on 52 minutes.

Ah Van kicked the conversion and added what proved to be a crucial penalty to put his side two scores in front before centre Paul Sykes made sure of the win when he took Herbert’s short pass to score Bradford’s fourth try to make it 24-10.

Still Harlequins were not finished, though, and Pryce’s mazy run set up the position for England centre Tony Clubb to go over for a third try before the former Bradford player completed his hat-trick two minutes from the end.

Luke Gale kicked his third goal from four attempts to cut the gap to just two points but there was no time for the Londoners to push for victory.

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Bradford: Sykes, Ainscough, Walker, Royston, Ah Van, Kearney, Herbert, Lynch, Diskin, Hargreaves, Elima, Olbison, Donaldson. Substitutes: Addy, Whitehead, Kopczak, Burgess.

Harlequins: Dorn, Melling, Clubb, Pryce, Calderwood, Gale, Randall, Ward, Ellis, Temata, Purdham, Koupartisas, Bailey. Substitutes: Wilkes, Thomas, Bryan, O’Callaghan.

Referee: T Alibert (France).