BRADFORD BULLS 12 HULL KR 48
KEITH McGHIE, Bartercard Odsal, Saturday

MIKEY LEWIS scored four wonderfully varied tries and Rhyse Martin grabbed 20 points as Hull KR predictably claimed a sizeable fourth successive Super League win to climb into the play-off places.

But anyone entering as the half-time hooter sounded would have thought the brave and significantly beleaguered Bradford Bulls had bossed the opening stanza.

Incredibly 24-0 down after barely 17 minutes, the injury-crippled Bulls battled back to halve the deficit as, with disbelieving fans baying for more, they responded with two tries and seriously troubled the reigning Super League and World Club Champions.

The decimated Bulls, without up to 13 first-choice starters, had been reported as having just 15 players fit to train at one stage during the week but interestingly included on-loan for a month former first grade wingman Greg Eden, who scored a brace for Rovers the last time the two teams met in the Super League at Odsal in 2014.

The Robins made two changes to the side which walloped Toulouse 46-0, with Martin and Noah Booth replacing the injured Oliver Gildart and the rested Joe Burgess in the starting line-up, with Sam Luckley also coming into the 17.

On a warm and sunny afternoon it took just four minutes for the Robins to gain an advantage.

Elliot Minchella was first to make his former employers suffer as he somehow managed to offload when seemingly wrapped up, for Mikey Lewis to score his ninth try of the season.

Martin had no trouble landing the first of his eight conversions.

Twice in the opening eight minutes the already struggling Bulls were penalised by set restarts late in the tackle count and Lewis was efficient enough to dart through again to help double the score, almost immediately to the delight of a sun-kissed sea of red and white from Humberside covering the scoreboard end open terrace.

Lewis turned creator next as his perfectly weighted kick enabled Tyrone May to make it 18-0 after just eleven minutes.

Martin rapidly grabbed a fourth converted touchdown and, when Bradford did gain rare, good field position, Peta Hiku looked odds on to capitalise from an interception but the Bulls’ determined scrambling defence recovered.

The shell-shocked home side then did well to halt the potential avalanche and their direct efforts yielded points when Brandon Douglas dived through a mass of defenders to put them on the board with his first ever Super League score.

Chris Atkin converted as, unnecessarily, Rovers conceded three penalties and a goal-line drop-out to increase the hope, if not belief, that Bulls could put more points on the board.

Rovers failed to deal with a high Atkin kick and it bounced straight into a try-scoring club debutant Eden’s arms, with Atkin’s kick narrowing the once 24-point gap to 12.

The second half began exactly as had the first with a set restart helping the Robins forward and Jack Broadbent scoring within three minutes of the restart.

A moment’s hesitation in defence allowed Lewis to pounce for his hat-trick, but yet again the Bulls refused to wilt and responded as Mitch Souter got to within a metre.

Bill Leyland was held up at the other end before the Robins were forced into one of a growing number of unnecessary errors.

Lewis created something from nothing for his fourth try and Tyrone May’s alert and clever kick into space gave Hiku a try.

The Bulls’ typically tireless defence denied Noah Booth a last-gasp score, which would have hoisted Hull KR above the half-century.

GAMESTAR: Mikey Lewis scored four tries and his devastating opening interventions virtually ensured that the league points were secured in the opening dozen minutes.

GAMEBREAKER: An understandably makeshift Bulls side could never recover from going 24-0 down in the opening quarter.

HIGHLIGHT REEL: Mikey Lewis’ brilliant fourth try from a standing start.

ALBERT GOLDTHORPE POINTS
3 pts Mikey Lewis (Hull KR)
2 pts Ethan Ryan (Bradford)
1 pt Tyrone May (Hull KR)

MATCHFACTS

BULLS
5 Ethan Ryan
23 Connor Wynne
11 Dan Russell
17 Ed Chamberlain
35 Greg Eden (D)
1 Caleb Aekins
32 Chris Atkin
10 Loghan Lewis
14 Mitch Souter
33 Jack Ormondroyd
12 Zac Fulton
25 Eliot Peposhi
21 Sam Hallas
Subs (all used)
19 Will Gardiner (D)
20 Brandon Douglas
28 Jamie Gill
30 Leon Ruan
18th man (not used)
27 Alfie Leake
Also in 20-man squad
29 Cameron Bate
– Harvey Ward

Tries: Douglas (30), Eden (36)
Goals: Atkin 2/2

HULL KR
14 Jack Broadbent
2 Tom Davies
3 Peta Hika
17 Rhyse Martin
21 Noah Booth
6 Mikey Lewis
7 Tyrone May
8 Sauaso Sue
9 Jez Litten
10 Tom Amone
11 Dean Hadley
12 James Batchelor
13 Elliot Minchella
Subs (all used)
15 Sam Luckley
16 Jai Whitbread
20 Jordan Dezaria
22 Bill Leyland
18th man (not used)
19 Karl Lawton
Also in 21-man squad
5 Joe Burgess
18 Jack Brown
29 Tom Whitehead

Tries: Lewis (4, 8, 43, 49), May (11), Martin (17), Broadbent (43), Hiku (75)
Goals: Martin 8/8

SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-6, 0-12, 0-18, 0-24, 6-24, 12-24; 12-30, 12-36, 12-42, 12-48

League Express Man of the Match
Bulls: Ethan Ryan; Hull KR: Mikey Lewis

Penalty count: 4-5
Half-time: 12-24
Referee: Chris Kendall
Attendance: 7,751