A lot of people will have to ear their words after that game, not least the Bradford fans, who were very overconfident yesterday. I woke up with a good feeling, and to be honest that good feeling is rarely wrong. There was this delusion amongst the Bulls faithful that their win against us a fortnight ago was a true reflection of the teams. I thought we'd been robbed myself by three appalling refereeing decision.
On a rare lovely day, we looked up for it from the kick off and an early penalty set us on our way. Of course, it was Terry Newton around the neck from the very start. Jon Wilkin got sent off for less than that at Bradford. That was a poor decision though, but it's set a precedent - Newton should have off for it. As always though, we took full advantage and a break from Pryce fell just short. From the play of the ball, Cunningham flighted a ball to Long that defied the laws of physics, it literally went 30 yards, before another excellent, looping ball from Long found Talau, who caught Marcus St Hilaire well out of position to crash in in the corner. Lonjg brilliantly kicked the goal and we were 6-0 up inside the first 5 minutes.
We had a couple of chances to extend our lead but blew some good chances, and after a bit of indiscipline the Bulls scored an easy try, Deacon stabbing a perfect kick through for James Evans to score, but Deacon unusually missed the kick. It wasn't long before we got ourselves back in front, Talau making an excellent pass for Meli to scurry in in the corner, at the approval of the video referee. Long failed to add the extras.
Then came what many see as the game's turning point as Bradford, after building up a head of steam, got penalised for obstruction as they scored a try. Whether it was the right or wrong decision (my view on it was it was perfectly fine) the referee was consistent and penalised Bradford later on (correctly) and Saints (incorrectly) for the exact same offence. All I ask for is consistency. And I got it. I hate that rule.
Instead of being level at 10-10 It remained 10- 4 and the game swung massively in Saints' favour 5 minutes before half time as the electric Roby (playing with a hairline fracture in his cheekbone, which Newton tried to damage with a crude forearm just before half time) made a break, before setting Wilkin clear. His pass back on the inside out of the back of his hand to Matt Gidley was sheer class. Gidley scored, Long converted and 16-4 was a big ask for the Bulls to come back from. And Long made that 17-4 with a 45 yard drop goal on the hooter.
At half time, I was fairly confident we'd win out in the sunshine. We'd done the hard work and our defending was great. We just needed to concentrate and complete our sets to win the game.
We were under the cosh for vast spells in the second half but Bradford lacked a lot of composure in our 20, and we nulified their threat. But they had three sets of six in a row and our scrambing defence wasn't enough to stop Tupou crashing in in the corner. Deacon failed to convert, but from the restart Saints punished a Bradford knock on dearly and Cunningham and Long again combined to send Paul Clough over for an easy try which Long easily converted.
With 12 to go the Bulls clawed their way back again, Vagana forcing his way over after a basic knock on, but with the score 14-23 a feeble kick from comedy iyestyn Harris went straight into Leon Pryce's arms and he ran 80 metres to score a try that confirmed what we knew. Mike Bennett also crashed over late on after another great pass from Long and despite some late thuggery from Michael Platt, who kneed Fa'asavalu in the head then punched him in the face for no reason (and wasn't even sin binned) we won the day easily.
WE'RE ALL GOING TO WEMBLEY!
