Bradford Bulls became the first lower league side to beat Super League opposition as they defeated Castleford Tigers 18-16 in Round Three of the Challenge Cup in a brilliant display at Odsal.
Prior to the Bulls hosting the Tigers, nine Super League sides had played and won in the Challenge Cup this weekend with the aggregate scoreline being a whopping 476-24.
As one of the favourites for the Championship title and facing a bottom-four Super League side, the Bulls were touted for an upset with Cas boss Danny McGuire speaking on the “potential ambush” but the bookmakers still made them 11/4 outsiders.
Brian Noble’s men ripped up the script as they dominated in the first 40 minutes, streaking out to a 17-0 lead with Joe Keyes’ drop goal proving pivotal later in the game.
Castleford came back with the Tigers scoring in quick succession before the hour before a James Meadows drop goal late on ensured the Super League side needed a converted score to take the game to golden point.
Tex Hoys’s last-minute try was unconverted meaning Castleford crashed out of the cup a week before they travel to Hull KR, a game that the Tigers will need to be far better for.
Bradford Bulls react to incredible Castleford Tigers win
ABSOLUTE HEROES!! pic.twitter.com/nRgbPd8DM7
— Bradford Bulls (@OfficialBullsRL) February 9, 2025
As referenced, Danny McGuire had labelled the game a “potential ambush” in response to the fact that the BBC cameras were covering the game and Bulls duo Tom Holmes and Brian Noble spoke to the broadcasters post-match.
“It’s hard to put into words. As a club, we’ve been really excited since the draw came out,” Holmes, who scored a try and saved a certain one from Josh Simm, explained.
“Obviously, me and Gilly are from Cas as well so it was great to draw them in the cup and what an outstanding effort from all 17 players.
“What a way to win in front of our home fans. We’ve beat a Super League side and we’re buzzing.
“I think we deserved the win, you can tell by the place how buzzing we are. We’ve not played a Super League side in a competitive game in a long time but we’ve knocked one off in the Challenge Cup.”
😮💨 There was no stopping Tom Holmes!
🏆 #ChallengeCup pic.twitter.com/8eKTe4k2FA
— Betfred Challenge Cup (@TheChallengeCup) February 9, 2025
His head coach Brian Noble, who has returned to lead the club following a ten-year hiatus from coaching echoed Holmes’ thoughts as he praised his player’s efforts/
Noble said: “What a fabulous effort from everybody and a fabulous feeling at the end which could have been so different, it could have gone into extra time and we don’t know what the result would have been there.
“But I’m thrilled for the players because you can feel the euphoria that they’ve knocked a Super League team off. They deserve a few beers tonight. For a part-time club, I think it’s outstanding from the players today.”
He conceded that the second half saw his side’s standards slip, something that may have coincided with an injury for Joe Keyes, but it’s a win that sets them up nicely for the launch of the Championship next week when they host London Broncos.
Noble said: “We were really good in the first half both with and without the ball so we had a lot of field position and that was reflected in the score. We’ll probably kick ourselves for the way we started the second half, we didn’t start too well.
“We gave them some reasons to have a crack but I can only reinforce about the effort in the middle and also the outside backs. It was a super effort from 17 blokes.”
He added: “Joe had to go off and we had to make changes that we probably didn’t want to make so we had to go through a little bit of adversity. That’s the nature of competitive games and that’s what we need more of to test ourselves.
“The weather was miserable and cold but a lot of people had smiles on faces. It was an occasion today and a great result for us. We start the season next week in a good mood.”
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