Bradford Bulls 36 Huddersfield Giants 0: Bulls stun Giants to boost bid in race for play-offs

The Bulls bounced back from two successive defeats in stunning fashion, with a clinical performance that belied their league position in blustery conditions that saw several handling errors occur.

Ben Jeffries, Paul Sykes (twice) and Michael Platt all crossed in the first half, while Patrick Ah Van and Brett Kearney added further scores after the interval.

Ah Van added the extras to three tries as well as a penalty, while Sykes converted Kearney’s try and a penalty of his own.

Even the return of talismanic scrum-half Danny Brough, who made his first appearance in six games following an ankle injury, failed to inspire the Giants.

At times, they were the architects of their own downfall as they suffered their fourth defeat in six matches to lose further ground on Super League leaders Wigan.

That should not detract from Bradford’s efforts as they reminded everyone of their credentials.

The Bulls had conceded 34 points against both Catalan Dragons and Castleford but their backline was almost flawless.

They were equally impressive on the offence, although they were indebted to several Huddersfield errors to set them on their way.

David Hodgson’s knock-on deep in his own half gave Bradford possession, while the visitors were penalised twice more before the ball was scrambled to Bryn Hargreaves and his short pass allowed Jeffries to exploit a gap in the defence to open the scoring.

With the bit between their teeth, Bradford attacked with venom and when Hodgson had been dragged into touch after collecting Jeffries’s chip, the ball was quickly manouevred to Sykes on the right to crash over.

Giants coach Nathan Brown had stressed the need for improvement following their defeat to Warrington but they were firmly on the back foot and when they finally put pressure on Bradford, Larne Patrick dropped the ball inches short of the try line.

The second-rower was made to pay for his profligacy when Sykes squirmed free of the Huddersfield defence to cross five minutes later.

The hosts were a scarcely believable 22-0 up by half-time when Scott Grix’s kick was charged down by opposite numer Platt, who collected the ball before charging over.

Shell-shocked Huddersfield thought they had made an ideal start to the second half when Joe Wardle finally broke through Bradford’s barriers, but his effort was chalked off due to obstruction in the build-up.

Huddersfield were once again penalised when James Donaldson was held down by Danny Kirmond and Bradford decided to take the two points, with Ah Van successfully kicking over from 30 yards in front of the posts.

Paul Sykes took over kicking duties and added a much trickier kick five minutes later following another Huddersfield error.

Eorl Crabtree was sin-binned for persistent offending, while the visitors’ woes were further deepened when Ah Van touched down after the ball had been spread to the right wing on Bradford’s next set of six.

And Kearney got in on the act when he latched on to Marc Herbert’s pass to dash over in the left corner to complete the rout.

Dejected Huddersfield coach Nathan Brown was unsurprisingly scathing of his side’s display.

Brown paid tribute to the Bulls but admitted that his side’s resolve has been lacking in recent weeks following their fourth defeat in six matches.

He said: “The opposition played terrific weather football.

“The tactics were great, they kicked the ball well and put us under a lot of pressure – particularly in that first half. The game is based on building pressure and field position and the last two weeks, we’ve clearly, clearly lost those battles.

“The most disappointing thing is our resolve is just not quite as good as it has been earlier in the year and it’s not at the level that we’ve set ourselves over the past couple of years, that’s for sure.”

Huddersfield’s torrid afternoon was further worsened when Brown revealed stand-off Kevin Brown is likely to be out of action for a few weeks after suffering a recurrence of a hamstring injury.

The Australian said: “He (Kevin) won’t be playing for a few weeks I wouldn’t imagine. It’s a similar problem (to a previous knee injury) but nowhere near as bad.”

Opposite number Mick Potter hailed his Bradford side: “I think the players executed a perfect game plan, they went out there with a determination to prove to some people that they could play,” he said. “They handled the conditions well, we boxed them down the field and got the rewards.

“I thought we were aggressive with our defence, we found that right balance between over-playing and not playing with our hearts.”

Potter was quick to play down their play-off prospects and after being asked whether a top-eight place is achievable, he said: “I’m no mathematician but if I was a gambling man, you’d probably say no but if we can perform like that in the next game or the game after then we have a chance.”

Bradford: Kearney, Ah Van, Sykes, Platt, Raynor, Jeffries, Herbert, Lynch, Diskin, Hargreaves, Elima, Whitehead, Kopczak.Substitutes: Scruton, Donaldson, Addy, Burgess.

Huddersfield: Grix, McGillvary, Wardle, Cudjoe, Hodgson, Brown, Brough, Crabtree, Robinson, Griffin, Gilmour, Lawrence, O’Donnell. Substitutes: Patrick, Ferguson, Kirmond, Mason.

Referee: J Child (Dewsbury).