Saints 20 Bradford Bulls 38 FALLEN champions Saints battled bravely before the unbeaten Bulls almost predictably took another giant step on the title trail at Knowsley Road on Sunday night.

And, in notching their 16th successive Super League victory and the first at Saints since 1992, the big rampant Bulls gave Saints an object lesson in the game's basics, ie strong tackling, lightning-fast play-the-ball and non-stop backing up.

But Saints nonetheless emerged with some credit for, despite the odds being stacked against them, they remained in contention for 25 minutes when they were really 'up for it,' and dug deep later to gain respectability of scoreline.

However, much needs to be done to halt the slump in Saints' fortunes, after a reverse which meant six home games have failed to produce a victory, with boring down-the-middle rugby often the policy after the penny failed to drop when moving the ball wide found Bradford wanting.

Lack of a coherent kicking game, plus backs rather than forwards having line-clearing roles thrust upon them, were other reasons why disillusioned fans asked 'what has gone wrong?' as they streamed off long before time.

On a somewhat happier note there was a sterling contribution from Vila Matautia which earned him the McEwan-Lager man-of-the-match award, while two-try Danny Arnold, Keiron Cunningham, Andy Haigh and Alan Hunte also caught the eye.

Much interest focussed on the full debut of Scott Barrow who, just days after his 17th birthday, was pitchforked into the scrum-half role against the stampeding Bulls, and acquitted himself well in having a hand in a try and distributing the ball intelligently before being substituted.

Bradford were ahead within four minutes when, after Cunningham lost possession, Brian McDermott and former Saint Bernard Dwyer took the ball up and James Lowes plunged over from the play-the-ball, but Saints hit back when Hunte put Haigh away, and Sean Long took the final pass to hurtle in. And the home side were denied a shock lead when referee Stuart Cummings ruled Anthony Sullivan offside after the winger had intercepted to race 80 yards to the Bull's line, with the visitors quickly responding when Steve McNamara and Glen Tomlinson carved out a try for Andy Hodgson.

Bradford skipper Graeme Bradley was then the prime mover in a touchdown by Matt Calland with McNamara landing the first of his five conversions, only for Saints to roar back when Karle Hammond and Barrow opened the way for Arnold to cross, with Long's kick rebounding from the woodwork.

The elusive Lowes then stole through the Saints' defence to give Bradford a 20-8 half-time lead, which they soon increased on the restart when other ex-Saints stars in Sonny Nickle and Paul Loughlin put Calland in for his second touchdown.

There was more than an hint of a rout when Danny Peacock and Bradley breached the Saints' try-line, but the never-say-die Knowsley Road side gained some consolation with a glorious second touchdown by Arnold which was created with a deft pass by Hunte, plus a penalty try by Joey Hayes after be had been obstructed by Nickle

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