Wakefield Trinity 18 Bradford Bulls 36: Jeffries in splendid form on return to Wakefield

When the Belle Vue stadium announcer revealed the man of the match was a visiting Bradford Bulls player there was some surprise on the terraces.

That it wasn’t Ben Jeffries caused even greater bewilderment after the half-back returned to his former club in the colours of Bradford Bulls to inspire a second-half victory.

Second rower Elliott Whitehead picked up the award for his hat-trick of tries, but it was 31-year-old Jeffries – who made 171 starts in two separate spells with Wakefield during the last decade – who ran the show after the interval as the Bulls ran in four unanswered tries in a devastating 14-minute spell.

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The lead had switched sides three times in the first half as Bradford led 12-10 at the break, and when Danny Kirmond bulldozed over to see Trinity retake the advantage you sensed it was going to be a battle of attrition to the bitter end.

But up stepped Australian Jeffries. After picking out Keith Lulia with a chipped kick in the first half, he repeated the trick three times in the second half to create tries for Whitehead (2) and Brett Kearney.

“Being a former Wakefield player, I think he enjoyed coming back,” said Bradford coach Mick Potter.

“He knows the ground pretty well. I thought his kicking game was very good.

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“I was pleased with the way we defended in the first half and, when we got a flow of possession in the second half, we came up with some points.

“I’m not saying the job’s done. We got the two points and that’s what we wanted. We had a tough week at training this week. We needed to build a bit of consistency in our performance and hopefully that will be the start of it.”

The hosts took just 40 seconds to get on the scoresheet. Isaac John’s kick saw the Bulls backpedalling and Ben Cockayne outpaced Elliott Kear to score. John missed the conversion.

But Bradford hit straight back, Jeffries chipping over for a diving Lulia to touch down. Jarrad Sammut’s conversion nudged the Bulls in front.

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Both sides had started brightly, showing the early-season optimism which abounds in Super League. But it was new-look Wakefield who started to take a grip on the match and they took the lead when sustained pressure saw Steve Southern dive over, with John converting.

And the Trinity stand-off was unlucky to be pulled back when he sprinted clear of the visitors’ defence, referee Ben Thaler spotting a forward pass from Kirmond.

John then spoiled a fine first half when his short inside pass was intercepted by Whitehead who ran 50 metres to score in front of the visiting Bulls supporters. The way the Bradford second rower celebrated as he ran in unchallenged was fitting of a Wembley final rather than a cold Saturday night at Belle Vue.

Sammut added the extras to put Bradford 12-10 ahead and already the lead had changed hands three times in the first half.

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John, a 23-year-old who joined Wakefield on a three-year contract over the winter, made a handful of appearances for New Zealand Warriors, making his debut alongside the legendary Stacey Jones.

But he hardly endeared himself to his new fans when he missed a simple conversion chance at the start of the second half, after Kirmond had carried several Bulls tacklers over the line with him.

Yet John’s partnership with Tim Smith – how can a John-Smith pairing not be toasted? – has certainly given Wakefield fans something to get excited about this season. Their defence though still needs some work, illustrated when the Bulls ran in four tries in 14 minutes.

A high kick from Jeffries was spilled by Richie Mathers and Kearney pounced on the error, although it needed video replays to award the try with doubts over whether the Bradford full-back actually grounded the ball.

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And it was Jeffries again who was the instigator of Bradford’s next try, a carbon copy kick this time saw Whitehead rise highest to pluck the ball out of the air and crash over for his second try of the evening.

It could have been worse for Trinity, but a forward pass ruled out Heath L’Estrange’s try, so it was down to Jeffries once more to provide the opening for Whitehead to complete his hat-trick.

Kearney then scampered over from Bryn Hargreaves’s pass as Sammut made it six successive conversions to push Bulls into a 36-14 lead.

Mathers went over for a consolation try for the hosts, with Cockayne taking over the kicking duties, but the winger missed his conversion attempt.

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Both sides had tries chalked off late in the game. First Craig Kopczak was judged by video replays to have had a double movement as the Bulls pushed for a seventh try of the evening, then Vince Mellars was pulled back for an earlier forward pass after some impressive Trinity handling.

Wildcats coach Richard Agar said: “Bradford came with a really simple game plan and they stuck to their guns better than we did over the 80 minutes. Our inability to deal with the kicks is obviously a little bit worrying.”

Wakefield Trinity: Mathers, Fox, Collis, Mellars, Cockayne, John, Smith, Wilkes, Aiton, Southern, Kirmond, Lauitiiti, Washbrook. Substitutes: Wood, Raleigh, Johnson, Trout.

Bradford Bulls: Kearney, Kear, Platt, Lulia, Crookes, Sammut, Jeffries, Kopczak, Diskin, Hargreaves, Bateman, Whitehead, Langley. Substitutes: L’Estrange, Scruton, Joseph, Burgess.

Referee: B Thaler (RFL).