Bradford Bulls were such a rag-tag outfit yesterday that any team would probably have rattled up tries with the regularity that Huddersfield Giants did to reclaim the leadership of the Engage Super League.
Mick Potter, the Bradford coach, referred to defensive “suicide”, but in every facet of an embarrassingly one-sided derby — the sort that the Bulls used to specialise in against once downtrodden neighbours — Potter’s team were found wanting.
Huddersfield scored four of their nine tries in a whirlwind 15 minutes from which the pitiful Bulls never looked like recovering. “Can’t tackle, can’t pass” summed up Bradford, while the Giants clinically went about their business to make it four wins in five games. Nathan Brown, the Giants coach, was being generous in referring to a “bit more intensity” when Wigan Warriors, the champions, visit the Galpharm Stadium on Friday, a match for which this was barely adequate preparation.
Danny Brough, who has turned his back on Scotland to represent England and is in Steve McNamara’s new elite training squad, provided further evidence that he may be the missing link for the national side at scrum half with the sort of teasing kicking game that has eluded them for years.
Brough’s mix of steepling kicks and chips into space for two of Huddersfield’s tries, by David Fa’alogo and Graeme Horne, perplexed a woeful Bradford. He also got his eye in with seven successful shots at goal after miscuing his first three conversion attempts.
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Jermaine McGillvary, a 22-year-old wing, demonstrated his verve and opportunism with a brace of tries, his first coming after 70 seconds. Gareth Raynor slipped attempting to tackle the elusive McGillvary and Paul Sykes was given the runaround for the subsequent try by Leroy Cudjoe before Fa’alogo supported McGillvary in going clear and Scott Grix danced through a thicket of half-hearted tacklers.
Shaun Ainscough provided a brief pause in Huddersfield’s scoring spree but Larne Patrick charged on to Fa’alogo’s pass, and Horne seized on another tormenting kick by Brough.
The second half provided little respite for Bradford as Brough’s series of dummies set up McGillvary’s second try and further touchdowns by Dale Ferguson, on his home debut, and Horne brought up the half-century. Tries by Marc Herbert and Raynor as Huddersfield eased off towards the end were of little consolation to a Bradford side now living in the Giants’ shadow.
• Willie Mason played 54 minutes yesterday, the former Australia prop having waited six months for clearance, in Hull Kingston Rovers’ 40-22 home win over Crusaders. Several surging bursts and the setting-up of a try for Liam Watts proved a satisfying debut. “It was good, everything worked out well,” Mason said. “I was stressed as to how it would all unravel and it couldn’t have gone better in my dreams. Having not played in five months it was a bit daunting. I was thinking last night, ‘Imagine if blow out in five or ten minutes’, so it was good we got a good start.”
Wigan Warriors snatched a 14-12 win at the DW Stadium against Hull with a 76th-minute penalty goal by Sam Tomkins. Danny Tickle missed a last-minute penalty in denying Hull the draw that Richard Agar, the head coach, felt his side deserved.
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Scorers: Huddersfield Giants: Tries: McGillvary 2, Cudjoe, Grix, Fa’alogo, Patrick, Horne 2, Ferguson. Goals: Brough 7. Bradford Bulls: Tries: Ainscough, Herbert, Raynor. Goals: Ah Van 2.
Huddersfield Giants: S Grix; J McGillvary, L Cudjoe, M Lawrence, J Simpson; K Brown, D Brough; E Crabtree, D Faiumu, K Mason, D Fa’alogo, G Horne, L O’Donnell. Interchange: L Patrick, S Lunt, J Cording, D Ferguson.
Bradford Bulls: P Sykes; S Ainscough, M Platt, P Ah Van, G Raynor; B Kearney, M Herbert; A Lynch, M Diskin, B Hargreaves, T Olbison, E Whitehead, O Elima. Interchange: N Scruton, I Sibbit, C Kopczak, A O’Brien.
Referee: J Child.