Beattie “proud” as Bulls run Rovers close

Bradford interim head coach Leigh Beattie praised his players after they came close to pulling off a shock result against Hull KR at the Summer Bash on Saturday.

Ethan Ryan’s late try drew the Bulls to within a point of the Championship leaders, but Rovers held on to secure a 20-19 victory.

“Hull KR are the strongest side in this competition and I thought that the boys had a really good shot at them,” Beattie told the club’s official website. “They surprised everyone and took them to the final whistle out there.

“We have worked hard on our ruck control and our markers. We know that (Shaun) Lunt is a class player and that’s how they were going to come at us. I thought that we silenced him and dealt with him pretty well.

“We have trained very well this week, Dane (Chisholm) has come in and brought a lot of enthusiasm. The lads to be fair have been well up for this, they have done me really proud.

“It’s about consistency for us – I don’t think that we have shown it lately, we have been on and off. When I spoke about the rollercoaster situation the other week, where we have had back to back errors and let our heads go down a bit, we didn’t allow that. We made some errors but we got straight back on it.

“We defended well, we got straight back into the arm wrestler and moved on, that’s why it finished like it did.

“I thought that the lads were outstanding – their effort was phenomenal, they showed real determination and grit and I thought that we more than matched a very good side.”