Bradford Bulls 28 Salford 14: Jeffries helps Bradford take out swift revenge on Reds

Jeffries, now in his second spell with the Bulls, combined superbly with half-back partner Kyle Briggs, scoring three of their side’s five tries between them, to mastermind a 28-14 win over the Reds.

“Ben Jeffries has been a good acquisition for us,” said Bradford assistant coach Lee St Hilaire.

“He plays at speed and Kyle Briggs has found the benefit of him guiding the team around.

“He’s not afraid to go to the line and I think he frightens teams with his speed.”

St Hilaire also paid tribute to teenage prop Tom Burgess, the younger brother of England international Sam, who produced his best performance yet.

“Super League is finding out how good he is,” he said. “I though Tom was awesome with the ball.

“He’s steadily progressing without falling in love with himself. He’s gradually finding his feet in Super League.”

St Hilaire admitted Bradford’s 56-16 defeat at the Willows last month had been a motivating factor behind today’s victory and claimed the side gained inspiration from last week’s narrow Challenge Cup defeat by Wigan.

“The players certainly did talk about not getting embarrassed the way they did at Salford,” he said.

“The feeling in the camp been good any way but to get the two points had to play well because Salford can score some tries.

“I thought we took some positives out of last week and took them into this game. We got the two points, which is probably the main thing at this at this moment in time.

“We’re working a hard as a group and hopefully we’ll get there by end of the year.”

Bradford had first use of a stiff breeze which enabled them to establish a 22-4 half-time lead and effectively end the game as a contest.

Olivier Elima sent Shad Royston through a gap in the visitors’ defence and scrum-half Briggs was in support to score the first try after only five minutes.

A superb offload from Sean Gleeson got Henry over for a Salford try, but the Bulls seized a grip on the contest with three tries from Paul Sykes, Heath L’Estrange and Craig Kopczak.

A 40-20 kick from Matty Smith set up the position for Daniel Holdsworth to combine with Luke Patten to get Henry over for his second try and the Australian took Gleeson’s pass for his hat-trick. Holdsworth converted, but the fightback was snuffed out when Jeffries got Briggs jinking through and Patrick Ah Van took his goal tally to four from five attempts.

Bradford Bulls: Royston, Crookes, Ah Van, Whitehead, Sykes, Jeffries, Briggs, Lynch, Diskin, Hargreaves, Elima, Olbison, Langley. Substitutes: L’Estrange, Kopczak, Donaldson, Burgess.

Salford City Reds: Patten, Broughton, Ratchford, Gleeson, Henry, Smith, Holdsworth, Cashmere, Sneyd, Boyle, Nero, Anderson, Wild. Substitutes: Jewitt, Neal, Paleaaesina, Sidlow.

Referee: R Silverwood (Dewsbury).