Injuries to Bulls pair takes gloss off victory for Potter

Potter’s men bounced back from opening defeats by Leeds and Wigan to race into a 30-16 lead before Crusaders took advantage of disruption in the Bradford ranks to score three tries in the last 10 minutes to make the final scoreline closer than it should have been.

Potter confirmed that hooker Heath L’Estrange sustained an ankle injury five minutes from the end and centre Chev Walker suffered a pectoral tear just eight minutes into the game.

“It probably wasn’t the best second half we’re going to play this year but we got the two points and that’s the main thing,” said the former St Helens coach.

“It’s what we needed at this stage, to get off that mark. Tonight we did whatever it took to get the result.

“I think a few teams will come here expecting to win and walk away with nothing. Crusaders are a good team and, if anyone comes with complacency, they will get beat.

“We did some simple things wrong – you are always after perfection – but we did some silly things on play one and we can’t do that too often.”

Late tries from Jarrod Sammut, Clinton Schifcofske and Tony Martin - added to earlier efforts from Michael Witt and Gareth Thomas - were little consolation to Crusaders coach Iestyn Harris, who bemoaned a second successive error-strewn display.

“Our skill levels were well below par,” he said.

“With some of the individual errors, unforced errors we have come up with for the last two weeks, you will find it difficult to compete against the better sides.

“We’ve got to put it right pretty quickly.

“There is real scratchy form from six or seven individuals and we’re going to work on that in the early part of next week.

“The spirit and desire is still there, it’s just misdirected at times but there is a willingness of the group to succeed and that is a big plus point for me,” said Harris.

“We’ve just got to channel it in the right direction.”

Bradford’s victory came with tries from Andy Lynch, Shad Royston, Shaun Ainscough, Matt Diskin and Heath L’Estrange, with Patrick Ah Van converting all five tries.

Crusaders: Schifcofske, Reardon, Martin, Thomas, R. Williams, Witt, Sammut, O’Hara, Withers, Bryant, Lupton, Chan, Flower. Substitutes: Moore, James, Peek, Dudson.

Bradford: Royston, Ainscough, Platt, Ah Van, Raynor, Kearney, Addy, Hargreaves, L’Estrange, Lynch, Walker, Whitehead, Elima. Substitutes: Kopczak, Diskin, Scruton, Olbison.

Referee: R Silverwood (Dewsbury).