It was not a great game and it was not a great Rugby Lions performance but they left the Bees’ headquarters The Hive with the only thing that really mattered to them, a five-point win.

Bradford were bottom of the league and in theory should have allowed Rugby to overrun them given Lions’ recent good form on the road.

But Rugby did not show their usual fluency and for some reason both sides resorted to a sterile kicking game with the ball usually falling into the possession, and often directly into the hands, of the opposition.

Lions had reorganised their pack who hardly had time to introduce themselves to each other before Bradford were ahead through Davidson’s first-minute penalty.

After good work by flanker Beau Carney, Lloyd Warner was able to equalise with his own penalty but on a still day he could not give Rugby the lead with a second kick on 11 minutes.

Bradford had one or two good backs, scrum half Gemmell and fly half Davidson who clipped over a drop goal for 6-3 after the first quarter had been played.

Lions scrum half Lewis Barker showed typically sharpness when he tapped penalty and darted forward before finding Phil Reed on hand to score an unconverted try on 22 minutes to give Lions the led for the first time at 6-8.

But Rugby were not able to push on from here and Bradford regained the lead when flanker Ford barged through a tackle to score, Davidson letting off Lions with a missed conversion.

Rugby had the boost of a try just before half time.

At last they had generated some sustained pressure and Tom Harris had got to a metre from the line. From a Lions scrum, Chris Humphrey, Barker and Warner gave Harris a chance he took sharply with Warner’s fine conversion from wide out taking the score into the break an 11-15 advantage to the visitors.

Kicking again dominated in the second half or else Rugby’s periods of possession saw them driving into the Bees defence without achieving real penetration.

Rugby started to make changes early in the second half to refresh the side and give players more game time with no weakening of the performance level.

But the first score of the second half went to Bradford with another Davidson penalty for 14-15 on 51 minutes – altogether too tight for comfort.

But a strong period of Rugby pressure allowed Lions to work a sharp opening for Tom Harris, who, having just failed to turn a brilliant 65-metre run into a try, made no mistake, his effort enhanced by Warner’s excellent conversion from wide out.

Bradford came back with another penalty for 17-22 on 62 minutes.

Lions survived a scare or two but Ben Patston’s grubber kick sent Jeff Gregson through for Lions’ bonus-point fourth try and despite yet another home penalty, Lions hung on to win.