SCOTT Naylor revealed that he had a “rant and a rave” during the half-time interval at Odsal where Roughyeds went in for the break 12-0 down after a disappointing first-half performance. They played much better in the second half and at 18-12 down they had a try under the posts disallowed for offside on the ruling of a touch-judge.
Two late tries by right-wing Dalton Grant carried Bradford Bulls to a 30-12 win that flattered the home side, who were looking extremely edgy when Paul Crook had his try ruled out.
Said Scott:
“We didn’t do ourselves justice. In the first half we gave away too many penalties and as a result we got very little good field position. To be honest, we were fortunate to be only 12-0 down at half-time.
“We had a rant and a rave and it seemed to make a difference. At 18-12 down we had what, in my opinion, was a perfectly-good try disallowed. I’ll have to take a look at it on the video.
“At that point we were in the ascendancy, but we then slipped back to what we had been in the first half and I find that very frustrating.
“I have a group of lads who are more than capable of coming here and winning, but they have to do themselves justice and they have to learn quickly that there are some very good teams in this division.
“I don’t know whether they were affected by the home crowd, the large stadium, the occasion or the Bradford name, but if we want to be in the mix at the end of the season we can’t afford to be playing like we have done in the last two games.
“We showed what we are capable of at Halifax but playing like that once a month won’t get you anywhere. Good teams play like that every week.
“You can’t start slowly against good teams and then claw it back because good teams won’t allow you to do it.
“We don’t play consistently well and that frustrates me. I’m not talking about playing wonderful rugby, I’m talking about doing the fundamentals right.
“I have to say also that I couldn’t understand why we were put on a team warning after we had just been awarded five penalties in a row. I’ve never come across anything like that before.
“Having said that, we have only ourselves to blame for this defeat. We have to be better than this against the top teams in the division.
“We didn’t do anything amazing in the second half, but we worked a lot harder with and without the ball and what a difference it made. Why do we need a rant and a rage though to make it happen ?
“We have done this three or four times now and it’s not good enough.”
