BBC SPORT | SUPER LEAGUE | Sinfield: Bulls win was no fluke



By Kevin Sinfield Leeds Rhinos star and BBC Sport Online columnist

A lot of people thought our Challenge Cup win over Bradford earlier in the season was a fluke and expected the Bulls to exact revenge at Headingley on Friday.

Well, we proved the doubters wrong and gave our credibility a big boost with a 28-20 victory.

Not many teams beat Bradford twice in a season and it's only their third reverse so far.

If we had lost on Friday, I suppose people would have criticised our tactics

Kevin Sinfield

We knew how important it was to win. We had disappointed our own fans with our last performance at home, the defeat by Widnes.

And we would have dropped a few places down the table and even further behind the Bulls if we'd been beaten.

It was always going to be a difficult game and we knew we'd have to be at our best.

They may have been struck down by 'flu in the week, but we still expected them to come out all with all guns blazing.

Rhinos trample Bulls

They did, going 10-0 up, but we quickly wiped out the deficit before taking hold of the match.

Our tactics may have had something to do with that. Our coach, Daryl Powell, decided to move Ben Walker to full-back and put me at stand-off for the game.

The re-shuffle seemed to give us more options and I don't think Bradford were expecting it.

Kevin Sinfield was named man-of-the-match against Bradford
Sinfield was man-of-the-match against the Bulls
Ben certainly relished his new role. He is a great player, a lethal finisher and a free spirit. Playing at full-back gave him more opportunities to shine.

It wasn't a bad game for me either. I scored a try and picked up my second man-of-the-match award of the season.

If we had lost on Friday, I suppose people would have criticised our tactics. But because we won everyone is singing Daryl's praises.

It will be interesting if we stick with the same line-up. I'm not too sure what Daryl has in store.

It is a big month for us. We play Wigan and Hull at home and have difficult away games at London and St Helens.

By the end of that run, we'll have a better idea of how far we've come and what we can expect for the rest of the campaign.


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