Bradford Bulls head coach Kurt Haggerty believes the club have picked up two “pretty serious” injuries in defeat to Leeds Rhinos.
The Bulls couldn’t keep their winning run at Odsal going as the Rhinos took a 24-12 victory, and the bragging rights in the first of three league meetings between the sides this season.
Caleb Aekins, Waqa Blake and Connor Wynne crossed for the home side, but that wouldn’t be enough to get them past Leeds, who scored four tries and went top of the table as a result of their victory.
To make matters worse for Haggerty, two of their overseas players look to have picked up issues and both had to leave the field early as a result.
“Waqa [Blake] looks pretty serious at the moment,” the boss revealed to Sky Sports post-match. “Young [Phoenix] Steinwede looked pretty serious. Leon [Ruan]’s failed his HIA, so we’ve got a couple more to add to the list.”
Blake’s injury was caused by what looked to be a hip drop from Leeds’ Kallum Watkins. The incident was put on report at the time and should the Bradford man have an injury deemed to be caused by foul play, Watkins could be looking at a charge from the Match Review Panel.
Steinwede’s leg was caught in an awkward position, in what is a disappointing start to his Bradford career having only made his debut last week. With there being no game for the Bulls next week, Ruan should be back for their round eight game with Wakefield in a fortnight’s time.
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Bradford Bulls boss assesses Leeds Rhinos defeat
Commenting on the game as a whole, Haggerty said: “I thought effort and application was brilliant tonight.
“A couple of moments that we lost, which ultimately cost us the game. We finished the match with only one player on the bench for 15 minutes to go.
“We’re a little bit busted, but I’m proud of the effort we put in.”
Despite the loss, it has still been a vastly positive start to the Super League campaign for Bradford, who have picked up three wins from their first seven matches.
“We have our style of rugby that we play, and we play that from minute one to minute 80,” Haggerty said when asked to sum up the opening few rounds. “Ultimately, we’ve shown a lot of resilience and toughness in our defence in particular.
“I think there’s been moments in that game where we’ve had to defend our try line for 30 consistent play the balls.
“We’ve shown we’re tough on the resilience side as well. Again, we just lost a couple of big moments tonight where quality teams like Leeds get you.”
