Bradford Bulls head coach Kurt Haggerty has tipped his hat to Leeds Rhinos’ Jake Connor for a game-changing moment in his side’s loss at Headingley.
The Bulls were playing a Super League match at Headingley for the first time in over a decade but any hopes of causing an upset slipped away in the 50th minute of their 42-12 defeat.
With the score at 18-12 and Bradford in the ascendancy, Connor kicked a booming 20/40 from his own 15-yard line with the ball leaving the field on the Bulls’ 10-metre line.
From that set Leeds would score and just two minutes later another Connor kick wasn’t dealt with and Brodie Croft pounced to score, opening up a three-try lead and putting the game out of sight for the Bulls.
“It was a pretty big moment from a classy player,” Bulls coach Kurt Haggerty said post-match when speaking to Sky Sports about Connor’s 20/40.
“Sometimes you can cop them but we could have been better with the ball and there’s plenty of resilience, but sometimes you’ve got to hang your hat on it, it was a pretty special moment.”
Bradford Bulls star suffers dislocated shoulder in defeat to Leeds
That wasn’t the only reason that Bradford lost but it certainly was a turning point in what was en error-strewn game with Leeds actually making more than the Bulls, 16 to 13, however, the errors seemed to punish Haggerty’s side more.
On that error count, he said: “We have a certain way that we play and ultimately when fatigue kicks in that’s when you’ve got to be your best, when you want to play on a high-skilled team, so we’ll have to cop that one and we’ll certainly get better.”
They were also hampered by playmaker Jayden Nikorima leaving the field with a dislocated shoulder, whilst prop Jack Ormondroyd could not complete the game.
Offering an update, he said: “Jayden’s shoulder has come out but gone back in. Jack Ormondroyd is an ankle, so it just adds to the list.”
Despite the defeat, the Bulls fans were loud and proud at Headingley and their players didn’t let them down, something Haggerty commented on.
“I’m glad that gets across, the effort that the players put in every week,” he said.
“We know where we’re at as a club, we know where we want to go to. I’ve got a team that’s scrap and fight and are resilient every single day we train and when we we play.
“They’re a great group and we’ll get better as we go. We’ve got another seven games together as this group, so we’re looking forward to that.”
With just seven games to go in their first season back in Super League, the message from Haggerty was clear: “Win as many as we can. We go to Hull KR next week, we’re going to look forward to that, it’s another great test, and we’ll just keep chalking off as we go.”
The Rhinos claim an impressive victory in Rivals Returns 🦏#SuperLeague pic.twitter.com/L0MQOtZy75
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