The victorious Wibsey Warriors side
It was back to winning ways at the Grattan Stadium this month, but the Bradford Bulls were not the side registering the victories at Odsal.
Instead, the stadium played host to two Bradford cup finals on Sunday May 15th, with Wibsey being represented in both games.
The first match pitted Wibsey Warriors 'A' against Queensbury 'A' with the Hudson Foster trophy at stake. Wibsey put out a strong team which on paper looked highly capable of overturning the opposition, and so it proved to be the case in a physical confrontation which looked like it could go either way for the majority of the game.
A nervy opening exchange saw both teams make handling errors but nerves were soon settled when Brad Tattersall broke the deadlock and Lewis Barrett opened an impressive account with the boot to put the Warriors into a 6-0 lead. This was soon stretched to 10-0 when Paul Jennings crossed in the corner, but Liam Mitchell's sin bin on the half hour mark turned the game on its head, with Queensbury pulling a try back through Tom Middleton and going into a 12-10 lead early in the second half thanks to Tony Clarke's touchdown.
Going behind seemed to kick Wibsey into life, however, with Tattersall extending his try count and Mitchell crossing over. Barrett added the conversion and another penalty to extend the lead to 24-12.
It became 30-12 when Luke Brooks scored for Wibsey and Garman converted, with Queensbury's last minute crossover from Barraclough a mere consolation as Wibsey successfully defended their trophy with a 30-18 victory.
It was a distinctly more one-sided affair in the final of the Jack Senior Memorial Trophy, when Wibsey Warriors took on Birkenshaw.
From the outset, a strong Warriors team boasting former Great Britain youth internationals in their line-up exhibited their class by going ahead in just three minutes when Nick 'the Fonz' Fontaine's fancy footwork paid off.
This was soon followed by scores from Mike Derrick, Phil Brain and Steve Redman, before captain Nick Walker got himself on the scoresheet with a try just before half-time to cancel out Matt Honeysett's effort and give the Warriors a 22-6 lead at the break.
The second half was more akin to one of the many Bradford Bulls Odsal demolition jobs of yesteryear, with the rampant Warriors running over a further nine tries in the second half.
Fontaine capped off an excellent display with two more tries to grab his hat-trick and Brain also extended his try count by a further three, with Redman taking his tally to two. Despite Honeysett's second for Birkenshaw, the result had long been set in stone and Ryan Smith, Harry Hall and Carl Walker's tries for Wibsey rounded off a comprehensive victory.
The Bull Pen will return next month, with details on Bradford's recent Super League and Challenge Cup exploits.