Saints lifted by a Long shot at glory

Bradford 18 St Helens 19

A drop-goal 45 seconds from full-time by Sean Long won the Super League Grand Final for St Helens and made it without question the most heartbreaking of Bradford's losses to them in big games over the last six years.

Bradford have fallen to Saints before in four major finals, but never in one where they dominated for so long as this. After Saints had clawed back to 18-18, however, it was they who found the crucial point to stop the match going into extra time and even then the game finished with furious scenes as the Bulls objected to the Saints' time wasting in the last seconds.

Paul Newlove was passed fit to take his place in the centre for St Helens despite the groin injury that saw him carried off last week and seemed to have ended his chances. That meant that the Kiwis' record try-scorer in Tests, Sean Hoppe, dropped down to the bench and the rugged Sonny Nickle, who – like Hoppe – is leaving the club at season's end, found no place at all.

St Helens made a disastrous start. Brandon Costin attacked down the left and put in a grubber kick to which Paul Wellens hurled himself and collided with the mighty bulk of Lesley Vainikolo.

The damage was on two fronts for Saints. The ball came back into Bradford's possession and they always had the men over on the opposite side of the field for the game's first try, scored by Scott Naylor from Michael Withers' pass and converted by Paul Deacon.

Worse than that, for both club and country, was that Wellens was immediately taken off to hospital with a suspected fractured eye socket. It could clearly rule him out of contention for the Tests.

A let-off for Saints came when Deacon's kick to the wing was knocked down and reclaimed by Jamie Peacock for Withers eventually to send Deacon under the sticks. After video scrutiny, however, a knock-on was detected and Saints breathed again.

However, they conceded another two points to the dominant Bulls midway through the first half when Chris Joynt was caught holding on in the tackle. Deacon this time extracted the retribution with a penalty.

Bradford were so firmly in command that it took a special effort from them to undermine the position they had built, conceding two tries thanks to some appalling play.

Long put up a high kick which was allowed to bounce by several Bradford players within arms length of it. When Saints reclaimed possession and Hoppe got the ball out of the tackle as he fell, the Bulls stood and watched again as Mike Bennett picked up and strolled around to touch down. Again it took a study of the video but the conclusion was that Bradford had committed the sin of failing to play to the whistle. The try stood.

Seven minutes before half-time, Costin lost the ball in a two-man tackle and Kieron Cunningham picked up with the Bradford defence again frozen. He scouted to the right to find a team-mate in the clear and picked out Long on the right wing for a second St Helens try. Both were converted by Long to give them an unlikely half-time lead.

Bradford opened the second half as if they had put their misadventures behind them, reclaiming the lead with the best piece of rugby of the whole match. The outstanding Deacon again made the initial break, Paul Anderson and Brian MacDermott both handling beautifully before Robbie Paul arrived to touch down. Deacon landed the goal. Three minutes later Deacon set up another, sending Naylor through a gap for Withers to arrive and stretch the lead to six.

The problem with playing Saints, however, is that you do not have to give them much to let them get back in. A knock-on by James Lowes conceded possession and Long's pass gave Martin Gleeson the chance to get around the outside of the defence and cut the margin to two points.

The harshest blow of all was the penalty that referee Russell Smith awarded against Fielden for what at worst looked an accidental offside. Long accepted the points eagerly and both sides tried to set up a winning drop goal in the final 10 minutes before, with the game seemingly headed for extra time even if its participants were exhausted, Long got the ball between the uprights and into the delirious St Helens fans.

Bradford 18 St Helens 19
Tries: Naylor, Paul, Withers Tries: Bennett, Long, Gleeson
Cons: Deacon 2 Cons: Long 2
Pens: Deacon Pens: Long
Drops: Long

Half-time: 8-12 Attendance: 61,138

Bradford: Withers, Vaikona, Naylor, Costin, Vainikolo, Paul, Deacon, Vagana, Lowes, Fielden, Gartner, Peacock, Forshaw. Substitutes: McDermott, Pryce, Anderson, Gilmour.

St Helens: Wellens, Stuart, Gleeson, Newlove, Albert, Sculthorpe, Long, Britt, Cunningham, Ward, Jonkers, Bennett, Joynt. Substitutes: Stankevitch, Higham, Shiels, Hoppe.

Referee: R Smith (Castleford).