Bulls still in title hunt
The scrum half edged his side to victory in the game billed as the Clash of the Titans
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Rugby league giants Bradford Bulls and St Helens have today received punishment for infringing a salary cap. |  |
Friday, 13, Jul 2007 10:19
Bradford kept their title hopes alive with a 10-4 win over Super League leaders St Helens at the Gratton Stadium.
Marcus St Hilaire's first half try for the Bulls was cancelled out by the Saints' Willie Talau.
But three goals from Paul Deacon proved to be the difference to hand the Saints their second straight defeat.
The Bulls were the better side in the first-half and raced to an 8-0 lead.
On 28 minutes, right-winger Ade Gardner failed to deal with Deacon's kick to the corner and St Hilaire was on hand to pounce for the try.
Deacon made the conversion to add to his third-minute penalty to put the hosts on course for a vital victory.
But the reigning champions hit back early in the second half with Talau finishing off a sweeping move.
The visitors' hopes of victory were destroyed when Jon Wilkin was sent off on the hour mark for a high tackle on Matt James.
The win for the Bulls put them just two points behind joint leaders St Helens and bitter rivals Leeds.
Elsewhere, Hull put in a dominant second-half display to beat Harlequins 20-8 at the KC Stadium.
The hosts scored two tries though Richard Horne and Carl Hall, who also kicked a goal.
Danny Tickle added to his 14 points in last week's derby win over Hull Kingston-Rovers by kicking five goals.
Harlequins scored a first-half try through Tyrone Smith while centre Paul Sykes kicked two goals.
The result sees Hull move up to seventh spot after 19 games while Quins remain in fifth place.