Bradford Bulls 40 Saints 4

DISORGANISED, dispirited, disgraced! That was sorry Saints in this Grand Final qualifier before a fiercely partisan crowd at inhospitable Odsal.

Unchanged from the squad that overwhelmed Leeds, Saints yet again revealed defensive frailties that are the worst in Super League's top-five, and they were ruthlessly exploited by the barnstorming six-try Bulls.

The visitors' army of fans relished the prospect of at least a cliff-hanger, but could only stare in disbelief as a fired-up Bradford squad, set on booking a place at Old Trafford and maintaining their 100 per cent home record, led 18-0 after just ten minutes.

All three tries in this opening onslaught resulted from speculative kicks into Saints' territory followed by apolegetic tackling attempts and it is fair to say that, after gifting Bradford such a launching pad, the game was up as a serious contest for apparently disinterested Saints.

A catalogue of fundamental errors would sum up a pathetic performance after which slip-shod Saints do not deserve a second bite at the Grand Final cherry. And there were few individual heroics, with the exception of Sonny Nickle, Tommy Martyn, Apollo Perelini and Keiron Cunningham, while Saints supporters rightly felt they have been badly let down.

On a selection note fans are asking why the game's costliest forward, Paul Sculthorpe, is playing stand-off and the talented Tommy Martyn at scrum-half? What's the point of bringing winger Sean Hoppe 13,000 miles to sit on the bench? And what has happened to a youth policy which served Saints so well in early season?

Over to you Mr Hanley . . . Cock-a-hoop Bradford had no better servant than the inspirational Steve McNamara, who landed seven goals from as many attempts, while ex-Saint Bernard Dwyer grafted as mightily as ever, but the St Helens contingent were not amused with the incessant cacaphony of noise prevalent at Odsal nowadays.

However, the man on the mike could be forgiven for a moment of arrogance in announcing at the break - by which time Bulls had gored Saints to the tune of 26-4 - that Grand Final tickets would be on sale later!

Bradford fired the opening salvo after three minutes when Henry Paul's chip through was lost by Chris Smith when tackled by Michael Withers, and dummy half Jimmy Lowes took up the running to put in Stuart Fielden

Smith was again at fault in fumbling McNamara's kick-ahead and the Paul brothers moved play to the right for Scott Naylor to race between Paul Newlove and Paul Atcheson to touch down. And when McNamara 'bombed' Saints' left for Henry Paul to score, the game was effectively up for Saints.

Throughout this total disarray Saints had enjoyed just one set of six tackles in which Joynt was stopped on the line, but their was no let-up for the badly-rattled visitors as Henry Paul went in for his second touchdown, after beating the Saints' captain and Des Clark en-route.

That man McNamara tacked on a penalty when Cunningham fouled Fielden before Saints gave their suffering support something to cheer when, after 37 endless minutes, Vila Matautia and Nickle moved the ball left for Newlove to hold off Bulls skipper Robbie Paul in a 40-yard run to the line.

McNamara was also on target when Matautia high-tackled Tevita Vaikona on the re-start and, although Saints strengthened their defensive resolve, Bradford notched two further tries; first from Withers when the hapless Smith spilled McNamara's up-and-under; and then when Vaikona raced 70 yards after Paul Deacon snapped up a dropped pass. Deacon converted

Freddie Tuilagi turned in the act of scoring; Martyn choosing the wrong option when Sully was clear, and Sculthorpe knocking on with the line in sight was an accurate reflection of a day when Saints could do little right for doing wrong.

Now, coach Hanley is charged with restoring shattered confidence. Otherwise the Knowsley Road cupboard will remain bare for another season.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.