Crusaders shocked an off-colour Bradford at Murrayfield on Saturday thanks to a 15 point personal haul from Michael Witt. The Bulls had gone into the game in fine form, having registered five successive victories, but they were well below their best as they failed to register a single point in a Super League game for the first time in four years.
Rugby League convert Gareth Thomas had another fine game as he continues to defy the critics who questioned whether he could switch codes so late in his career and it was the 35 year old's mazy run that set up the opening try as he offloaded to Witt to touch down. Witt converted and added an opportunistic drop goal before extending the lead to 13 on the stroke of half time when he slid over.
England head coach Steve McNamara had a task in raising a visibly sluggish Bradford side and though they did come close to responding after the restart they could not force a solitary point. Jarrod Sammut, who only arrived at the club in mid-week, sealed the victory in the 72 nd minute when he latched onto his own grubber kick as Crusaders moved up to 10 th in the table.
Crusaders head coach Brian Noble praised his side after bouncing back from a lacklustre display last weekend against Huddersfield. He said, “I'm pleased we responded after last week when we had a lot of players not play to their potential. I knew we would have to be good to beat Bradford and we were.”
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