Bulls Tie Up Hape Until 2008

Bradford Bulls have received a major boost ahead of Saturday?s engage Super League Elimination Semi Final with the news that New Zealand centre Shontayne Hape has signed a new contract with the club and will remain at Odsal until the end of the 2008 season.

Hape, who joined the club from the New Zealand Warriors at the start of the 2003 season, has been a big success scoring 49 tries in 70 appearances and has struck up a great partnership with his winger Lesley Vainikolo.

Hape?s current deal had another year to run but the Bulls moved early to extend contract of a player who missed a large part of the season with an injury picked up in the Gillette Tri Nations Tournament last year but who has been in sensational form since his return.

Bulls Coach Brian Noble is delighted to have tied the player to the Bulls for a further three years:

?Shontayne is quite simply a World Class player. He is a current New Zealand International and he is still only 23 years old. His best football is ahead of him and I am delighted that it will be played with the Bulls. Shontayne was a player we wanted to keep for the long term and I am very pleased we have managed to secure an immense talent for another three years.?

Shontayne Hape is very happy to have secured his future with the club.

?This is a fantastic deal for me at the club I want to be with. They have been very good to me during my injury period and have helped me immensely. There was an element of me wanting to repay them for the faith they have shown in me during that period but I am also very excited about the club?s plans for the future. I have enjoyed my time here and it has worked out really well for me. Now I am looking forward to the next three years with relish.?

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Thanks to Bradford Bulls Alert for this news.