Terri-Bull night for Saints

Michael Worrincy's second-half double helped struggling Bradford stun Super League leaders St Helens 34-30 at Knowsley Road.

Woeful against Warrington seven days ago, the Bulls bounced back to upset the odds and record just their third victory in 2009.

Saints appeared to have the points in the bag when Sean Long scored their sixth try after 54 minutes having hit their rivals with a blitz before the break.

Trailing 10-0, the hosts ran in five tries in the space of 10 first-half minutes to overcome an uncharacteristically sloppy start.

Upset

For 27 minutes the Bulls, languishing in the bottom half of the table, had looked much the better side, raising hopes of a similar upset to their 10-6 triumph over Leeds at the Grattan Odsal Stadium on Good Friday.

They went ahead in controversial circumstances, although there was nothing dubious about David Solomona's kick that bounced kindly for Semi Tadulala.

In the build-up to the winger breaking the deadlock Ben Jeffries had appeared to knock on, the player himself giving up the ghost only for referee Richard Silverwood to wave play on.

The home supporters were fuming at the decision but there was stunned silence soon after when Tadulala slid over for his second out on the left.

The lead was no more than the visitors deserved and it could have been even better had video referee Ian Smith not chalked off tries from Sam Burgess and Steve Menzies.

Saints too had an effort ruled out when Maurie Fa'asavalu failed to ground the ball properly before finally awaking from their slumber in spectacular fashion.

Ade Gardner's easy run-in on the right signalled the start of a barrage of points against a Bulls team shorn of the pivotal Solomona due to a serious shoulder injury.

Fellow winger Francis Meli scored twice while Leon Pryce and Gary Wheeler also touched down, two of the four tries coming straight off the back of re-starts thanks to some superb running rugby from deep.

Long slotted over two of his five conversion attempts to make it 26-10 in the home side's favour at the break, a scoreline that had never seemed possible during the opening quarter of the match.

To their credit, Bradford recovered from the shock of conceding so many points in a hurry, giving themselves and their surprisingly small band of travelling support renewed hope with the first try of the second half.

Craig Kopczak's effort next to the posts was soon cancelled out, though, when Long was in the right place to catch Wheeler's hack forward on the full.

Sensational rally

That should have been that. Instead, Saints seemed to fall asleep thinking the job was done, allowing their rivals to rally in sensational fashion.

Having been denied by the television official earlier, Burgess benefited from any doubt over a double movement to kick-start a superb comeback.

However, Worrincy was to be the hero, the off-season signing going over twice in the space of five minutes to give the Bulls the lead again.

Jeffries set up the second with a grubber kick and then knocked over the extras, giving his team a four-point cushion that they bravely held onto until the final hooter to clinch their first triumph at Knowsley Road in four years.