Shonny shines on farewell appearance

5:09pm Sunday 29th June 2008

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Bulls 40, Hull 20

No one was going to ruin Shontyane Hape’s party.

Hull KR tried and for 50 minutes today looked capable of spoiling the Kiwi’s big day.

But Bradford cut loose during a purple patch after the break to give Hape – joining Bath after six glorious years at Odsal – the send-off he deserved.

The classy centre grabbed a farewell try along the way and it proved crucial at a time when the hosts looked set to self-destruct.

They were trailing 16-6 in the first half after being blitzed by three quickfire tries and in danger of losing a fourth straight match at Grattan Stadium.

But Hape – a member of the club’s Team of the Century and winner of every honour in the game – came up with the 85th touchdown of his fabulous Bulls career to get them back on course and head off in style.

The 26-year-old fittingly led out the Bulls on his final appearance and almost got their first try when Terry Newton’s quick tap penalty was flung out by David Solomona.

Ben Galea just managed to haul Hape down short but Solomona bundled his way over from acting half and Iestyn Harris booted the conversion.

The Bulls almost doubled their lead immediately when centre Paul Sykes brilliantly arced his way down the right touchline from deep.

Simon Finnigan was typically on his shoulder and the second-rower linked to feed Terry Newton but Rovers full back Ben Cockayne somehow got back to deny the hooker.

Cockayne was soon hurtling towards the Bulls line after latching onto Paul Cooke’s midfield break but this time Ben Jeffries was the saviour as the gaps opened up on both sides during a nervy opening.

Rovers weren’t denied though as winger Peter Fox – playing less than 48 hours after his try-scoring England debut in France – showed no signs of fatigue to dive over with a sharp finish after Cooke and former Bull Stanley Gene created an opening.

Michael Dobson then pinned Bradford back with a massive 40/20 and Justin Morgan’s side started to get some momentum, enjoying plenty of success around the ruck with their quick play-the-balls.

The hosts looked ragged and it was no surprise when their opponents added a second on the quarter mark.

There was an obvious forward pass from Cooke though that set Kris Welham clear before returning inside to his stand-off.

Cooke converted and began exuding his class to Bradford’s cost. The controversial No 6 set in motion Rovers’ third try, this time down the left as quick hands with Jake Webster had Daniel Fitzhenry tip-toeing along the touchline, Dobson the man finishing off.

Cooke’s extras made it 16-6 and Steve McNamara’s outfit were struggling. He introduced his England man – Sam Burgess – off the bench and the forward immediately won a penalty after Rovers stripped possession.

But his team-mates, with chief organiser Terry Newton off, looked clueless as to what to do with the restart close to the line. Iestyn Harris eventually opted to tap and go himself but added to his side’s woe by losing it in the tackle.

They were handed a lifeline though. Cockayne was equally wasteful when he endured a moment of sheer madness, picking up from the base of the scrum only to waft a loose pass to no one across his own line.

The ball bobbled past two team-mates and Sykes gobbled up the gift.

Harris kicked and the Bulls had the fillip they needed.

When Cooke put his first boot wrong, whacking the restart out on the full, Bradford pounced again.

Burgess was the instigator with a typically powerful surge that sucked in defenders centrefield and then Jeffries decided to run on the last, Solomona finding Hape with a long pass to leave the Kiwi with the chance to do what he’s done so many times at Odsal.

The centre produced his customary elegant finish, getting on the outside of Welham with ease and Harris’ conversion put his side 18-16 up at the turnaround.

A raft of errors early in the second period – all in their own half – prevented Bradford from picking up where they left off; Simon Finnigan spilled after a bad pass, Andy Lynch lost the ball in contact and then Wayne Godwin fumbled at dummy half.

Fortunately, Rovers, who have now lost five on the bounce, were just as poor.

A moment of class from Jeffries pulled the hosts out of their malaise, the stand-off dropping his shoulder to step through the Rovers defence and then holding his nerve to find Finnigan.

Jeffries could have set up another but ignored a huge overlap, leaving Matt Cook fuming as space opened up. But he didn’t make the same mistake twice.

Becoming increasingly dangerous with his accelerating pace, Jeffries sliced through again to find Hape, who was denied a second by Ben Fisher.

But the chance hadn’t gone and good hands down the other side ended with Finnigan putting Sykes over for his second of the match.

Finnigan was denied another when he sped on to Platt’s off-load but referee Ben Thaler pulled the second-rower back for a forward pass just as he was sprinting clear.

Harris made sure of victory just after the hour mark, rolling back the years to step inside David Mills from ten metres out, swerve past Fitzhenry and stroll over for a classy effort.

The Bulls immediately hit their foes with a double whammy. Prop forward Lynch looked more like Martin Gleeson when he majestically strode down the left touchline on a rampaging run from the kick-off that had the Rovers defence trailing in his wake.

It needed Fox to eventually haul the big man down but Platt got over later in the set after good work from Newton.

It was only the full back’s second since last May and will do his confidence wonders after a couple of shaky spells.

Cockayne got a consolation at the death but it didn’t take the gloss off for Bradford – who win back-to-back Super League games for the first time since the opening week of April – or their departing hero.