Bradford Bulls sees practice pay off at Swinton Lions

Bradford were looking to avoid a third Betfred Championship defeat in a row against a Lions side who have deservedly beaten Toulouse, Dewsbury and Halifax over the last few weeks.

But unlike against York and Widnes, Bulls looked composed and controlled in attack, and smart use of kicks, passes and gaps on the last tackle meant they scored seven tries on a sunny afternoon in Greater Manchester.

After the game, O’Carroll told the T&A: “We’ve been working on our last tackle plays for probably the past six weeks, as we don’t think we’ve been strong in that area at all.

“Fair play to the boys for taking ownership of that and they’ve been working hard on that in training.

“What I saw today was what I’ve been seeing on the practice field, so credit has to go to our spine for executing that.”

Bulls had to defend hard in the opening 15 minutes, staying in the grind before taking their first real opportunity through Zac Fulton’s try.

Zac Fulton's try was Bulls' first real attacking opportunity, and they flourished from there. (Image: Tom Pearson.)

Seeing his side do the hard yards before cutting loose pleased O’Carroll, who said: “The try Zac scored was exactly what we’d highlighted in practice and what we’d worked on on the training field.

“When he went over for that score today, us coaches looked at each other and were delighted, because we felt that made it a great start.

“We didn’t think we’d score points straightaway today, because Swinton are a quality outfit, but that opening try was something we’d practiced and to see the boys execute it is really pleasing.”

Fulton, along with Michael Lawrence and Jorge Taufua, were welcome returnees to the starting line-up, but John Davies missed out through illness, while Ben Blackmore was absent after some soreness flared up in his ankle, which he suffered a bad injury to in early February.