Sunday 8th July 2012, 15:00 - Round:20
![]() Bradford Bulls 44 (26) |
VS. | London Broncos (4) 12 ![]() |
| Manase Manuokafoa, Brett Kearney 4, Luke Gale, Elliott Whitehead, Michael Platt, | T | Kieran Dixon 2, Will Lovell, |
Luke Gale 6, |
G |
|
| DG | ||
Attendance: 10,132 Official: R Silverwood Venue: Odsal Stadium |
||
| TRIES: | TRIES: | |
| GOALS: | GOALS: | |
| METRES: | METRES: | |
| CARRIES: | CARRIES: | |
| TACKLES: | TACKLES: | |
| OFFLOADS: | OFFLOADS: | |
| PENALTIES: | PENALTIES: | |
| BREAKS: | BREAKS: |
Bradford Bulls again made light of the turmoil afflicting the club to cruise to their second biggest win of the season and ensure London Broncos stay rooted to the foot of Stobart Super League.
Full-back Brett Kearney grabbed four of his side’s eight tries and former London half-back Luke Gale also played a starring role as the Bulls ended a traumatic week on a high with a third straight win.
Bradford, who lost two training sessions at the height of the crisis in the week, followed up their stunning victory at Wigan Warriors with another impressive win to maintain their play-off hopes ahead of an inevitable points deduction for going into administration.
The Bulls will now be hoping for another positive result before Tuesday’s deadline set by administrator Brendan Guilfoyle to find a buyer.
The game went ahead with the help of staff sacked at the start of the week, including head coach Mick Potter and his assistants, while the return of the cheerleaders who withdrew their services at the previous home game presented an air of normality.
On the pitch it was routine for the Bulls against a Broncos side forced to play without their captain Craig Gower for the first time after he pulled out through injury in the warm-up.
The visitors were also without prop Antonio Kaufusi, who was hurt in the Exiles’ win over England in midweek, and they looked well down in confidence after winning just once in their previous 10 league matches.
Bradford dominated from the start and ought to have made more of clean breaks from Kearney and Michael Platt long before prop Manase Manuokafoa took Heath L’Estrange’s short pass to crash over for his second try for the club on 11 minutes.
Kearney jinked his way over on 14 minutes and Gale was gifted his first try for the club three minutes later after London winger Kieran Dixon had lost the ball in a tackle 10 metres out from his own line.
Gale, who joined the Bulls from the Broncos at the start of the season, added all three conversions to put his side into an 18-0 lead.
Dixon pulled a try back midway through the first half but twice more illustrated his defensive weaknesses as Bradford increased their lead to 26-4 by half-time.
First he fumbled Gale’s kick to allow his opposite number Shaun Ainsough to get second rower Elliott Whitehead over for a try and was then outjumped by Ainscough as he collected Ben Jeffries’ kick and put the supporting Platt over.
There was little respite for the Londoners after the break as Gale and Jeffries combined to get Kearney over for his second try within two minutes of the restart and the Australian full-back took Platt’s pass on 57 minutes to complete his hat-trick.
Loose forward Jamie Langley then burst clear to get Kearney over for his fourth and Gale kicked a sixth goal to take his personal haul to 16 points.
The Broncos finished a well-beaten side but they gained some consolation when centre Will Lovell scored his first Super League try.

| Player | T | TA | TK | MT | MI | TB | AT | C | M | AG | CB | DR | E | FT | G | MG | OF | P |
| Brett Kearney | 4 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 19 | 166 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Michael Platt | 1 | 1 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 116 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| Luke Gale | 1 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 68 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Manese Manuokafoa | 1 | 0 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 92 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Elliot Whitehead | 1 | 0 | 28 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 19 | 165 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 |
| Karl Pryce | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 40 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Keith Lulia | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 75 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| Shaun Ainscough | 0 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 96 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Ben Jeffries | 0 | 1 | 17 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 45 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Heath L'Estrange | 0 | 1 | 16 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 84 | 4 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bryn Hargreaves | 0 | 0 | 23 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 81 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| John Bateman | 0 | 0 | 31 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 65 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Jamie Langley | 0 | 1 | 36 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 111 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Chev Walker | 0 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 96 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tom Olbison | 0 | 0 | 15 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 47 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Thomas Burgess | 0 | 0 | 19 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 113 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Adam O'Brien | 0 | 0 | 17 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 50 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Stats Key
T: Tries
TA: Try assists
TK: Tackles
MT: Marker tackles
MI: Missed tackles
TB: Tackle busts
AT: Attacking kicks
C: Carries
M: Metres
AG: Av gain
CB: Clean break
DR: Run from dummy half
E: Errors
FT: Forty twenty
G: Goals
MG: Missed goals
OF: Offload
P: Penalties
Highlights
Key Performances

Dan Sarginson
Metres: 144

Mark Bryant
Tackles: 39

Brett Kearney
Tries: 4
Metres: 166
Clean Breaks: 3

John Bateman
Tackles: 31

Elliot Whitehead
Metres: 165

Jamie Langley
Tackles: 36










