Blake Scores Twice As Bradford Beat Catalans
20 February 2026
Bradford (24) 28
Tries: Ackers, Blake (2 ), Aekins Goals: Milnes (6 )
Catalans (0) 10
Tries: Faataape, Sexton Goals: Sexton
Bradford Bulls marked their very first Super League home match for 12 years with an emphatic 28-10 win over .
Converted tries from Andy Ackers, Waqa Blake and Caleb Aekins were included to by 3 penalty goals by Rowan Milnes for a 24-0 lead at half-time.
Quickfire scores from Solomona Faataape and Toby Sexton threatened a spectacular Dragons resurgence in the second half.
But Blake scored again to protect a popular win for the Bulls at Odsal Stadium.
Bradford took an early lead through Ackers, who twisted and turned in the past powering over the line from close quarters after Joe Mellor kept the move alive.
Milnes kicked 2 penalties from under the sticks inside 22 minutes, punishing a string of errors by the Dragons.
The visitors were rejected by a no-try call when Iszac Fa'asuamaleaui thought he had scored on the line, but the video referee maintained the choice, ruling that he had actually not touched the ball down.
It proved to be a key minute as Milnes added a third penalty objective before Blake raced away after a speedy team move from right to left to score the Bulls' 2nd shot.
Aekins then darted through a gap left by the Catalans' front row for a third try.
Three minutes after the break, the Dragons were provided a gift when Ethan Ryan's loose pass was pounced on by Faataape, who could not think his luck as he ran in to score.
The momentum was with the visitors, and another Bradford mistake, this time from Aekins, was punished as Sexton discussed, however his conversion attempt went large to leave the deficit at 14 points.
Ryan practically apologized for his error by catching a long Milnes kick inside the Catalans' half before setting Esan Marsters away, however the video referee disallowed the shot, ruling that Ryan had been taken on during the play.
Blake added his 2nd try minutes later on after Ryan combined with Milnes to cap a remarkable victory.
Bradford development pleases Haggerty - response
Bradford Bulls head coach Kurt Haggerty informed BBC Radio Leeds:
"I actually took pleasure in the very first half. I really enjoyed parts of the 2nd half, particularly defensively.
"We were actually careless with the ball in the 2nd half, however I liked how we turned Catalans away. We showed how fit we are ... and how far we have actually can be found in a brief space of time.
"The belief of the group is truly essential, we've got another difficult video game [coming up versus Toulouse], it's week to week this. You can't simply peak since we've got a good crowd at Odsal.
"We'll certainly won't more than happy, we'll resolve the 2nd half, we'll repair it."
Bradford: Aekins; Wynne, Marsters, Blake, Ryan; Hooley, Milnes; Sutton, Ackers, Lewis, Chamberlain, Fulton, Mellor.
Interchanges: Souter, Scurr, Doro, Peposhi.
Catalans: Staines; Makinson, Cotric, Faataape, Simm; Sexton, Dodd; Satae, Da Costa, Navarrete, Lipowicz, Condon, Leeming.
Interchanges: Fa'asuamaleaui, Allen, Lis, Chan.
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