Rugby League: Bulls rub salt into Wigan's wounded

Bradford 19 Wigan

WIGAN LOST further ground in the race to retain their Super League title. Equally damaging, they are eventually going to lose their captain, Andy Farrell, from the front line. Farrell, the only player to appear in every round of Super League since it began in 1996, turned out at Odsal despite a worsening ankle problem that ultimately forced him off at half- time.

"I'm going to make the decision next week and if he has to miss a game he has to miss a game," the Wigan coach John Monie said. Monie also chose to play two of his other big guns, Gary Connolly and Greg Florimo, despite the fact that they were some way below full fitness. "They are inspirational players and I will always go with them," he said.

But Wigan paid a price for going into a game like this with a side who were not capable of competing physically. For the very first time since Super League began more than three years ago, they failed to cross the try-line.

Bradford's Paul Deacon put them ahead with a penalty after Florimo had brought up his elbow whilst carrying the ball into the Bull's defence. It was on one of Wigan's rare forays to the other end of the field that they equalised, James Lowes being penalised for passing off the ground. When the extra 10 yards were added for dissent, even the handicapped Farrell slotted over a comfortable kick.

When Wigan were awarded penalties from nearer the 40-yard mark, however, the very occasional place-kicking of Connolly was brought into play, but not to any good effect, as his efforts barely got off the ground.

Bradford should have taken the lead when the busy Deacon split the Wigan defence only for Michael Withers to knock on. The Australian wing soon made amends, although it was again the presence of half-fit players on the field that was the crucial element. Henry Paul, playing against his old club for the first time, hoisted a high kick and Florimo, limping out on the wing, lost it behind his try line for Withers to swoop for the game's first try, converted by Deacon, who also added a cool drop goal before the interval.

It was no surprise when Farrell failed to reappear for the second half and none either when Bradford extended their lead to match winning proportions. The problems began for Wigan when another of the walking wounded, Chris Radlinski, uncharacteristically fumbled behind his try line. Bradford applied the necessary pressure and Robbie Paul managed to wriggle his way over, despite the efforts of Radlinski and Mark Reber.

Deacon, an impressive young presence at scrum-half and a Wigan lad to boot, added the goal, before Steve McNamara came off the bench to take over as kicker for the penalty after the try scorer had been dumped in a dangerous tackle. That was the end of the scoring, although the temperature rose in the last 10 minutes as Wigan at least showed some irritation if not much creativity.

Warren Jowitt and Neil Cowie finished the game in the sin-bin, but no amount of belated battling attitude could change the outcome.

Bradford had shown themselves to be by far the more convincing prospect to chase St Helens at the top of the table. "Any team that holds Wigan to two points had put in a pretty good defensive performance," Matthew Elliott, the Bradford coach, said afterwards. "But there is still a lot of fine tuning that we can do."

Bradford: Spruce; Pryce, McAvoy, Naylor, Withers; R Paul, Deacon; Anderson, Lowes, Fielden, Boyle, Forshaw, H Paul. Substitutes used: McDermott, Jowitt, McNamara, J Peacock.

Wigan: Radlinski; Robinson, Moore, Connolly, Davies; Florimo, Smith; Cowie, Reber, Mestrov, Betts, Cassidy, Farrell. Substitutes used: Haughton, O'Connor, A Johnson, Gilmour.

Referee: R Smith (Castleford).