Bulls boss praises Hape

Odsal boss sends best wishes for departing New Zealander.

Last updated: 29th June 2008

steve mcnamara bradford

McNamara: Hape praise

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Bradford boss Steve McNamara says Shontayne Hape takes his best wishes with him as he leaves the club to join Bath, and was happy to see him sign off with a try in a Bulls victory.

The New Zealander will move to rugby union to join Guinness Premiership side Bath next month and played his final game in a Bulls strip during their 40-20 victory over Hull KR on Sunday.

Hape had the perfect send-off as he scored a try in the win at Odsal that took his side up to fifth place in the Super League table.

McNamara was keen to pay tribute to Hape and was delighted to see him sign off in style in his final outing as a Bradford Bull.

"Shontayne's been very good for the club," said McNamara.

"He likes to score tries and I was pleased to see him get over today. He goes to Bath with our best wishes and he's done very well for us.

"He came up with a nice try and he's a special kind of player."

Performance

Despite scoring seven tries during the victory, McNamara was not happy with his side's performance in general, but said it did show some promise.

"We had a 35% completion rate in the second half but it shows the potential in the side to score the points we did given what we did to ourselves," he added.

"I'm really pleased for the group because they've had a tough couple of months."

Hull KR coach Justin Morgan was trying his best to remain positive despite watching his side slip to a fifth successive defeat.

Rovers had taken control of the match early on but were blown away in the second half, but still Morgan was staying positive.

"I thought we tried really hard but we didn't have a huge amount of luck," Morgan said.

"We kept trying until the final whistle and we showed some decent character in the last 10 minutes but we made some silly errors in the middle of the second half.

"We've got some positive signs but we've got to continue to work as of tomorrow morning to try to put things right for next week.

"Days like today help players learn. It doesn't make it easier that we've lost, but they're really good learning scenarios for the next time we're in that situation."