YORK KNIGHTS 35 BRADFORD BULLS 16
EMMA KENNEDY, LNER Community Stadium, Thursday
YORK ensured the wooden spoon will head to Bartercard Odsal as they ended their debut Super League season on a high by dispatching Bradford.
The Knights have silenced their critics, defying the expectations of their reduced budget, with this their ninth win of a first top-flight campaign in 40 years.
It was almost poetic that they ended the season as they had started it, with a field-goal their final points of the evening – from an unlikely source in Paul Vaughan, making the final appearance of an illustrious career.
For Bradford, whose season has been hampered by an unprecedented injury crisis, it is back to the drawing board ahead of the arrival of a number of big names for 2027.
Both sides named an unchanged starting line-up following their respective wins over Catalans and Castleford last week, the Bulls’ only change coming on the bench with the return of Esan Marsters from an Achilles injury that had kept him sidelined since April.
There was plenty of entertainment on show on a memorable night for veterans Vaughan and Ben Jones-Bishop, who brought up the milestone of 400 career appearances.
Neither side seemed to be able to hold onto the lead in a topsy-turvy opening half, but it was York that went in at half-time in front.
The Knights applied the early pressure, with Vaughan stopped just short before Connor Wynne got fingertips to Liam Harris’ pass wide to Jones-Bishop.
A clever Cody Hunter kick then forced Caleb Aekins into conceding a drop-out, but despite Xavier Va’a going close, Bradford’s defence held firm.
However, when Scott Galeano was sinbinned for a tip tackle on Phoenix Steinwede, momentum quickly started shifting the Bulls’ way.
They took the lead just after the quarter-hour when Ryan Sutton crashed onto Andy Ackers’ bullet pass and powered over from close range next to the posts, handing Chris Atkin a simple conversion.
However, they could not build on that, and after cheaply giving up possession in their own half, Galeano turned from villain to hero as Harris shifted the ball right for the centre to dummy his way through just seconds after being reintroduced.
Cody Hunter converted, and did so again six minutes later after fast hands from Harris and Jesse Dee sent Jones-Bishop over out wide to mark his milestone appearance with a try.
Galeano then looked to turn provider for his winger after flicking on a Harris cut-out pass, but it was ruled the ball had gone forwards.
Instead, Bradford pulled level against the run of play. Sam Wood couldn’t take in a teasing Atkin chip under pressure from Steinwede, with Riley Dean collecting the loose ball to score. Atkin converted to tie the game at 12-12.
But York ensured they went in at half-time in front, Denive Balmforth and Ata Hingano combining in a neat one-two to send Toa Mata’afa through a gap two minutes before the break.Hunter made it three from three from the tee.
York looked to pick up where they left off in the second half when Bradford gave away back-to-back penalties within a minute of the restart, but they were again thwarted by some dogged Bulls tryline defence.
And having quickly turned defence into attack, the visitors thought they had pulled themselves back into the contest, with Ebon Scurr powering over after Aekins had gone close, but the effort was chalked off for obstruction by Sutton in the build-up.
Bradford instead fell further behind in the 51st minute when Dee crashed over into the right corner, from which Hunter missed his only conversion.
Marsters’ rustiness was evident as he knocked on from the play-the-ball, but though back-to-back penalties provided some much-needed respite for the Bulls’ defence, they were again left feeling aggrieved after an Aekins score was ruled out for a knock-on.
As they had earlier in the half, York added insult to injury. Waqa Blake could not reel in a Harris bomb, with Jones-Bishop picking up the loose ball and feeding Va’a to score.
David Nofoaluma put the final nail in Bradford’s coffin with 12 minutes remaining, swatting off the attempted tackle of Marsters before beating Aekins to ground his own grubber, opening a 34-12 advantage.
Things looked to have gone from bad to worse for the visitors after the kick-off flew out on the full, but they did give their travelling supporters something to cheer late on, Jayden Okunbor collecting Ackers’ pass before turning past Wood to score out wide.
But the final word belonged to the Knights, with Vaughan signing off in style with his first Super League field goal, after which his teammates joined him in wheeling away in celebration, to cap a promising year.
GAMESTAR: Ben Jones-Bishop came up with some important defensive plays, as well as scoring, on a 400th career appearance to remember.
GAMEBREAKER: Nofoaluma’s try, which saw the winger race onto his own grubber and beat Caleb Aekins to score.
HIGHLIGHT REEL: Paul Vaughan’s field-goal sparked jubilation both in the crowd, and from his teammates, who piled on the veteran prop in their celebrations.
ALBERT GOLDTHORPE POINTS
3 pts Ben Jones-Bishop (York)
2 pts Liam Harris (York)
1 pt David Nofoaluma (York)
MATCHFACTS
KNIGHTS
1 Toa Mata’afa
2 Ben Jones-Bishop
5 Scott Galeano
4 Sam Wood
46 David Nofoaluma
37 Cody Hunter
7 Liam Harris
15 Xavier Va’a
9 Paul McShane
10 Paul Vaughan
12 Jesse Dee
20 Oli Field
13 Jordan Thompson
Subs (all used)
6 Ata Hingano
8 Jack Martin
14 Denive Balmforth
27 Matty Foster
18th man (not used)
23 Jon Bennison
Also in 21-man squad
16 Justin Sangaré
26 Nikau Williams
50 Thomas Doyle
Tries: Galeano (23), Jones-Bishop (29), Mata’afa (38), Dee (51), Va’a (64), Nofoaluma (68)
Goals: Hunter 5/6
Field-goals: Vaughan (76)
Sin bin: Galeano (13) – tip tackle
BULLS
1 Caleb Aekins
2 Jayden Okunbor
11 Dan Russell
4 Waqa Blake
23 Connor Wynne
38 Riley Dean
32 Chris Atkin
8 Ryan Sutton
9 Andy Ackers
16 Ebon Scurr
19 Will Gardiner
34 Phoenix Steinwede
13 Joe Mellor
Subs (all used)
3 Esan Marsters
25 Eliot Peposhi
28 Jamie Gill
30 Leon Ruan
18th man (not used)
22 Luke Hooley
Also in 20-man squad
27 Alfie Leake
36 Harvey Ward
Tries: Sutton (17), Dean (34), Okunbor (75)
Goals: Atkin 2/3
SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-6, 6-6, 12-6, 12-12, 18-12; 22-12, 28-12, 34-12, 34-16, 35-16
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Knights: Ben Jones-Bishop; Bulls: Ebon Scurr
Penalty count: 4-6
Half-time: 18-12
Referee: Chris Kendall