Four times Super League champions, three times champions of the world and twice Challenge Cup winners – the roll call of Bradford Bulls’ achievements since the inception of Super League in 1996 is up there with the very best, but promotion from the Championship in 2015 could prove to be their biggest challenge yet.
Competing in the second tier of domestic rugby league for the first time in 41 years after their relegation last season, second-placed Bradford are beginning to gear up for next month’s Qualifiers, in which the top four sides from the Championship enter a mini-league with the bottom four teams in Super League. After every team has played each other once, the top three sides progress to the top tier for 2016 while fourth and fifth play off in what has been dubbed the “million pound game” for the final promotion slot.
Bradford secured their place in the Qualifiers, also known as the middle-eight, several weeks ago but with two defeats in their last three games they have limped towards Sunday’s heavyweight match against the league leaders, Leigh Centurions. Yet their coach, the former Bradford hooker James Lowes, says he is instead focused on the longer-term battle in the Qualifiers.
“These last two games will have no bearing on what happens in the middle eight,” said Lowes. “Yes, we’re going to turn up and play and do our best in the games, and of course we would like to win – you want to win every game and we will be disappointed if we don’t. But in the grand scheme of things we’re working hard to plan for the Qualifiers and that’s the business end for us now.”
Lowes revealed he holds little concern about the side’s recent form, instead insisting that he is looking at the bigger picture: promotion back to Super League at the first attempt. “Fans want to see us win but if it doesn’t quite go as planned then they have not got to be so disappointed,” he said. “We’ve got to get through these next two games and prepare ourselves for the middle eight. If we have to sacrifice not being at our best for the next two games in order to win promotion, what would the fans rather have?”
The clash between the sides in the opening game of the season whet the appetite sufficiently for this return meeting; six cards, several brawls and a subsequent investigation into both teams’ behaviour by the Rugby Football League overshadowed an impressive 36-24 win for the Centurions, and Lowes took a pragmatic and subdued approach when it came to the inevitable talk of the rematch. “It’s not about revenge this weekend because that last game against them was a long time ago and we did a lot to shoot ourselves in the foot, “ he said.
“The team is going to be massively different due to injuries and slight changes, so that was in the distant past and as a group we’ve not even mentioned the last meeting.”
