photo by Ian Lovell

The Bridgend Blue Bulls secured their place in this seasons Welsh Play-offs with a comprehensive 58-0 victory over the West Wales Sharks at Llanelli with loose forward Matthew Channel claiming a hat-trick.

The match saw the return of Alan Bateman who agreed to make his comeback after a number of injuries to key backs.

Neither team played well in the opening 20 minutes and both missed opportunities to score but a great break from 2nd row Anthony Isaac put Bateman over under the posts and from then on it was all one-sided.

Debutant Ross Howells almost got the Bulls second but fell inches shirt of the line, but good work from Aaron Warner then put Carle Ellis over with Matthew Hutchings converting both for a 12-0 lead.

With half time approaching Bridgend then stepped up a few gears, another great charging run from Isaac set up a try for Matthew Channel and moments later Bateman showed he has lost none of his skills by weaving his way past three would-be tacklers for his second try of the game, with Hutchings again adding the extras to give his team a 24-0 lead.

In the second half the Bulls went on to score six more tries, Hutchings raced over for the first after a break Gareth Hopkins and Geraint Lewis before Matthew Channel sprinted away and gave a great offload for Aaron Warner to score. Channel then grabbed two more tries himself in as many minutes for an excellent hat-trick before Man of the Match Anthony Isaac battered his way over the line for Bridgends ninth.

In the final minutes the Sharks finally looked as if they were going get on the

scoresheet after putting in their best attacking move of the game, but the final pass was intercepted by Aaron Warner and the wing raced 85 yards to claim his second and the Blue Bulls tenth try of the game.

Up to that point Matthew Hutchings had kicked nine out of nine conversions but his final effort sailed just wide denying him a 100% record. But his 22-point tally does make him the Bulls top points scorer for the season.

For the Bulls forwards Anthony Isaac and Matthew Channel were in exceptional form making hard yards everytime they had the ball while Griff Davies, Ross McGraw and Tevita Manaseitava were solid throughout.

In the backs Ross Howells had a fine debut while his fellow wing Aaron Warner showed great speed to claim his two tries. The centre partnership of Carle Ellis and Gareth Hopkins worked well while Neil Dixon had a fine game in the unfamiliar position of scrum half.

Geraint Lewis, also playing in an unfamiliar role at stand-off ran the game well while Bateman came on and off the bench covering centre and half-back positions and although his legs are aging he showed he still has what it takes scoring two tries and helping to set up many great attacking moves.

After the game Bulls captain Jon Purnell said, “we were rusty at times and it took us a while to get our game going, but when things finally clicked we played some great Rugby League. Anthony Isaac and Matthew Channel were outstanding and we scored some excellent tries. But we also gave a great defensive display and not letting them score was just as important to us as scoring the tries”.

BLUE BULLS SCORERS:

TRIES:
Alan Bateman (2)
Carle Ellis
Matthew Channel (3)
Mathew Hutchings
Aaron Warner (2)
Anthony Isaac

GOALS:
Matthew Hutchings (9)

article by Simon Green
22 July 2006