High-flying Wakefield Trinity up to second after recording a rare Super League win at Odsal

In a feisty West Yorkshire derby encounter, which saw plenty of video ref interventions, in-form Wakefield made it five wins on the bounce after tries from Tom Johnstone, Will Tate, Jay Pitts, Josh Rourke and Harvey Smith secured a 26-12 victory.

At the time of Trinity’s last Super League win here before tonight - in 2006 - the Bulls were one of the country’s top teams, winning the Grand Final four times and being crowned world club champions on three occasions.

But Trin are a club on the up, with two wins being claimed here at Odsal in 2024 in the Championship and in the semi-final of the 1895 Cup which took Daryl Powell’s men to Wembley.

Challenge Cup final appearances, and maybe even a Grand Final place at Old Trafford, will not be far off the agenda if Trinity keep performing like this.

They weren’t at their fluent best tonight, with Bradford battling to the 80th minute, but they did enough to claim the spoils.

Trin could not have wished for a better start as the Bulls fumbled the kick-off before forcing a six again. They then moved the ball swiftly to the left, with Tate showing quick hands to find Johnstone who crossed over. And all in less than the first 90 seconds.

Johnstone had notched a splendid hat-trick inside the opening 18 minutes when these two sides met at Belle Vue in April, with Wakefield’s 52-12 triumph still the Bulls’ heaviest defeat of 2026 since returning back to Super League.

And the early signs were there that Johnstone and his team-mates could be in for another one-sided affair.

But Bradford, who ended a four-game losing streak with their first away win of the season at lowly Huddersfield Giants last week, kept Trin out and broke free after a loose Tyson Smoothy pass was intercepted to show their own attacking threat.

Trin were more dangerous, though, and for more consistent periods in the early stages, with Isaiah Vagana powering over from close range, only for the video ref to agree with the on-field decision of no try.

Caleb Aekins was then denied at the other end by the video ref for an obstruction in the build-up.

Tate and Johnstone were working well on Trin’s left edge and, after combining together to get the visitors into another decent-looking points-scoring position, the ball was moved to the other side where Myles Lawford’s pass to the wide open Lachlan Walmsley was forward.

Despite Wakefield’s possession, the Bulls managed to level the game at the midway point of the first half when Chris Atkin’s kick to the corner was emphatically met by the great, giant leap of Ethan Ryan.

But Ryan was then immediately penalised after what looked like an accidental collision in the air with Josh Rourke, who landed awkwardly on his back, as Bradford’s tryscorer was sent to the sin bin for ten minutes.

And Trin managed to take advantage when Tate, even though he wasn’t the intended target, somehow managed to get on the end of a Lawford grubber kick.

Trin’s lead was reduced to just four points, 10-6, at half-time when Luke Hooley knocked over a close-range penalty, but it only took Powell’s men less than four minutes at the start of the second half to get on the scoreboard again with Pitts streaking through a massive gap to make it 16-6.

Were Trin about to lift the Odsal curse? In 14 Super League games here since its inception in 1996, Trin had only won twice.

And of Bradford’s six wins in Super League in 2026, five have come here. Their passionate home fans may help in that as they got behind their side as Ryan touched down in the corner, only to be denied by a knock-on.

In an end-to-end start to the second period, back came Trin with Caleb Hamlin-Uele coming inches away from extending the lead even further but he was thwarted on the line.

Then the Bulls, arguably, put Trin under a sustained spell of pressure they haven’t seen in these recent four winning game weeks.

The home fans were not happy when a high tackle from Cameron Scott went unpunished, but they were cheering moments later when Atkin spotted a gap and crossed by the sticks to get Bradford back to within four points.

And then, just like Argentina in last night’s round ball semi-final with England, the Bulls produced wave after wave of attacks, and were unlucky not to at least go level when the video ref came to Trin’s rescue, denying Jayden Nikorima.

But Wakefield soaked up the pressure perfectly and scored to ease the nerves when Rourke pounced on another fumble in the corner, although there was a lengthy check by the video ref.

The visitors had more defending to do before Smith, who scored in last week’s fantastic win over Hull KR, squeezed over at the death to seal a rare Odsal success, moving them, temporarily, up to second.

And with eight rounds to go, who is to say, they won’t be there come the end of what is turning into a memorable campaign?

Bradford: Aekins, Wynne, Armitage, Blake, Ryan, Nikorima, Atkin, Lewis, Ackers, Ormondroyd, Russell, Fulton, Sutton

Interchanges: Mellor, Scurr, Gardiner, Dean

Tries: Ryan, Atkin

Conversions: Hooley

Penalties: Hooley

Wakefield: Rourke, Walmsley, Scott, Tate, Johnstone, Trueman, Lawford, McMeeken, Smoothy, Lolesio, Storton, Vagana, Tevaga

Interchanges: Pitts, Hamlin-Uele, Faatili, Smith

Tries: Johnstone, Tate, Pitts, Rourke, Smith

Conversions: Rourke (3)