 St Helens winger Gardner scored his 100th career try |
St Helens: (28) 34
Tries: Fozzard, Gardner, Wilkin, Talau, Gilmour, Tyrer
Goals: Tyrer 5
Bradford: (12) 22
Tries: Hape, Langley, Solomona, Hape
Goals: Deacon 3
St Helens shrugged off their poor start to the Super League season as a dazzling first half hour set them on their way to victory against Bradford.
Saints were 28-0 up just after the 20-minute mark thanks to tries from Nick Fozzard, Ade Gardner, Jon Wilkin, Willie Talau and Lee Gilmour.
Shontayne Hape and Jamie Langley tries gave leaders Bradford some hope.
Steve Tyrer marked his first start with Saints' fifth try before David Solomona and Hape added further Bradford scores.
Reigning champions St Helens had too much pace and movement for Bradford in the opening quarter of the match.
606 DEBATE: Give your thoughts on the match
The world club champions took the lead after just three minutes when James Roby broke from dummy half and his flat pass enabled Fozzard to romp over untouched, with 17-year-old Tyrer adding the conversion.
They were soon two scores to the good as Gardner claimed his 100th career try out wide and Wilkin added the third try soon after with Tyrer, who contributed 14 points in all, converting the latter.
Saints then added two more quick-fire tries as Talau powered over under the posts before a fine Roby break ended with Gilmour racing over, with Tyrer converting both
Bradford finally got on the board just before the break through tries from Hape and Solomona and Deacon's brace of conversions made it 28-12 at half-time.
The second half was a quieter affair featuring just three tries.
Tyrer went over and converted his own try after 46 minutes following a fine Wilkin break, before Bradford hit back through Solomona's short-range effort, which Deacon could not convert.
Deacon was on target when Hape crossed for a last-gasp try but Bradford's record as the only side with a 100% record in Super League was at an end.
Saints boss Daniel Anderson:
"We completed our first 11 sets, which is superb. "It was a fantastic defensive performance but I thought we got a little cocky at the end of the first half.
"We started to play the trick-pass routine and went away from the game plan.
"James Roby was superb. He's growing in stature and developing so fast. I was one of the first to congratulate him. He had an enormous game."
Bradford coach Steve McNamara:
"We came here with a lot of expectation but we came up with some fundamental errors at the start. "We touched the ball once in eight or nine sets. Saints were white hot in that period. We did okay after that but we were too far behind.
"As good as Saints were on attack, they were very good defensively when they needed to be and made four or five try-saving tackles."
St Helens: Wellens, Gardner, Gidley, Talau, Meli, Pryce, Long, Fozzard, Roby, Cayless, Gilmour, Tyrer, Wilkin.
Replacements: Cunningham, Graham, Hargreaves, Bannister.
Bradford: Platt, McAvoy, B. Harris, Hape, Vainikolo, I Harris, Deacon, Vagana, Newton, Feather, Langley, Solomona, Morrison.
Replacements: Henderson, Lynch, Burgess, McKenna.
Referee: R Silverwood (Dewsbury)
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