Raynor double hurts Halifax

Raynor: At the double

Former Great Britain winger Gareth Raynor scored twice as Bradford Bulls sealed their place in the last 16 of the Carnegie Challenge Cup with victory over Halifax at the Shay.

The Bulls were pushed close by their near-neighbours before eventually prevailing 46-34 in a 14-try thriller on Sunday afternoon.

Raynor was denied his hat-trick by the officials late on but Bradford, far from at their best, went on to secure their first win in six matches.

Halifax had hoped to spring an upset to press their claims for a place in the Engage Super League and there was enough to encourage former Bradford and Great Britain coach Brian Noble as he prepares to start work with them as a consultant on Monday.

Memorable

Bradford lost centre Chev Walker through injury early on but looked to have the measure of their hosts in establishing a 10-0 lead inside eight minutes.

Former Halifax favourite Shad Royston went over from dummy half for the first of the visitors' nine tries and then provided the pass for left winger Raynor to go over, with Patrick Ah Van kicking the first of his seven goals.

Full-back Royston, a member of Halifax's Championship Grand Final-winning team last September, was also heavily involved in Michael Platt's 20th-minute try to make it a memorable return to the Shay.

But the Bulls could never pull away from their spirited opponents, who hit back through veteran forward Jim Gannon on 13 minutes and benefited from the introduction of hooker Sean Penkywicz from the bench.

He scored within seconds of entering the action, nipping over from dummy half, and also created tries for fellow replacements Frank Watene and Danny Jones in the second quarter.

A solo try from second-rower Elliott Whitehead, who outfoxed the Halifax defence with two dummies on a touchline run on the last tackle, kept the visitors in front.

Ah Van picked off a Penkywicz pass to stroll over for a 40-metre interception try and teenager Tom Burgess gathered a loose ball to score his first for Bradford and ensure they kept their noses in front.

The Bulls' lead was cut to just four points three minutes into the second half when loose forward Sam Barlow collected Ben Black's kick to score a fifth Halifax try, but the home side continued to make life difficult for themselves.

Pressure

A succession of penalties enabled Bradford to pile on the pressure while Whitehead produced two one-on-one ball steals on the unfortunate Rob Worrincy to keep the home side on the back foot.

Prop Craig Kopczak got over the line only to fail to ground the ball but the pressure finally told when second rower Ian Sibbit took Marc Herbert's pass to cross for a seventh try.

Ah Van's conversion made it 38-28 and Raynor made sure of the win when he raced over for his second try on 62 minutes, with Ah Van rounding off the scoring with a penalty.

Raynor was denied a hat-trick when his 73rd-minute touchdown was disallowed for obstruction and Whitehead also had a try ruled out for a knock-on.

Halifax were never in front but they had the final say when hooker Bob Beswick scored their sixth try in stoppage time, with Jones kicking his fourth goal.