EOC says its just illness with Gaskell. Probably being overly cautious keeping him out. The seasons 3 weeks away so no point risking him. Fax look to have just sustained 3 serious injuries to 3 key players in their game. We can't afford that to happen to us.

Unchanged today.

vpn jitters strikes again ... couldnt listen last week, also cant get my vpn working today ... c'est la vie. i want to listen to a rugger game, how is that a threat to china national security :/

In 5 mins Lilley has shown he’s not capable of being the leading half

Just need to remain patient. It's not a classic, but we cannot afford to get frustrated and lose the plot. Keep doing what we're doing (which is dominating field position) and eventually widnes should crack.

Lacking variation in attack. It's like Kear has come back.

It is, isn’t it. Clueless in attack. Now playing with the extra man again.

That kick from Lilley to gift them a 7 tackle set cost us dearly. All we needed to do was ask them to come from corner again.

We seem very lethargic today.

Very poor game so far. Widnes have played with a man down for a quarter of the game as well. Bulls need a miracle here with 10 mins to go.

Game over. Terrible game.

Well that was terrible. Looked like we were still in bed! Few fresh faces required for next week, we had an extra man for a quarter of game.

Some old ghosts rearing their head. Lilley 7 tackle set when all we needed was to pin them in corner. Hallas and Flanagan with ridiculous penalty.

Let's hope we've got our poor performance out of the way early on.

Yep he really struggles as the only halfback. Jowitt isn't good enough yet and although he scored a nice solo try, he hasn't done much else. The whole side have looked really really disinterested which is disappointing. Let's hope they're brought in for extra training on the Sunday they will now have off.

Swinton up next without Souter.. could be another long afternoon if Gaskell isn't back to add a bit of direction.

Flanagan and Jowitt not good enough. That defensive "effort" on Wilde was abysmal. I'm not sure why the coach persists with Flanagan. Jowitt isn't good enough to be back up for Gaskell.

Very poor and predictable rugby today. Kicking game was abject. We need Gaskell back ASAP.

Agree Bullseye. Flanagan came on and looked like he was in treacle trying to slide in the defensive line. Jowitt isn't good enough for HB as you say. May have him as interchange Hooker to spell Souter. I don't know whether EOC is treating the cup games like a pre-season, but playing Souter first 60 then having Flanagan on for last 20 (, when games are won and lost) isn't working.

The injury to Doro proves that being knocked out isn't the worst outcome long term, but that performance was really really poor.

I was hoping for a turnaround after last week's disappointing final 15/20 mins against the Cougars. Unfortunately, it was déjà vu all over again as the Bulls delivered yet another lacklustre and uninspiring performance.

From the opening whistle, it was fairly evident that the we were plagued by the same issues that haunted us in the final quarter against the Cougars. Lethargy seemed to permeate every aspect of our game, with sluggish attacking play and a lack of urgency apparent throughout the game. Credit to Widnes who defended extremely well throughout the game. It's also concerning that we played a quarter of the game with an extra man but still looked inept near their line.

We struggled to make any meaningful progress, often resorting to predictable plays that were easily snuffed out by the opposing defenders. Poor decision-making (WTF was Appo thinking) and a lack of cohesion further hampered our ability to generate any scoring opportunities. We missed Gaskell massively today and as soon as Souter left the field we lost one of our only attacking players. Jowitt's try was very well taken but apart from that he offered very little and gave away 2 silly penalties early in the game.

Our tackling was particularly sloppy, with missed tackles proving costly as the Vikings capitalised on our defensive lapses.

In terms of individual performances, there were few standout players for the Bulls. Despite some flashes in the opening 15 mins from some key players, overall, it was a disjointed and unconvincing display.

A bad day at the office.