Bradford Bulls 58 Huddersfield Giants 6: Huddersfield punished as they eye play-offs after Bulls gain late relief

With the league leaders’ trophy safely tucked away in the Giants trophy cabinet, Anderson rested all but four of the team that beat Wakefield 40-0 last Sunday with Thursday’s opening play-off tie against Wigan firmly at the forefront of his thoughts.

He opted to give debuts to four teenagers and run-outs to four other players with just four Super League appearances between them and watched on as they were crushed 58-6 by the Bulls.

“Everybody has got knocks at this time of the year and it was a short turn-around,” Anderson said.

“The scheduling hasn’t helped that. If you look at the bigger picture, we had no choice but to do what we did.

“This was a bit of a dead rubber. The only thing it’s hurt is our for and against but we are where we are. There were a lot of people out there who over the year had earned an opportunity to play. I thought one or two took it and one or two didn’t.”

Full-back Jake Connor scored Huddersfield’s only try on his debut as the Bulls took full advantage of Anderson’s weakened team to run in five tries in each half for a welcome win that secures them a double over the table-toppers and a ninth-place finish.

Stand-off Jarrod Sammut led the way with four tries and centre Keith Lulia marked his farewell appearance with a hat-trick as Bradford bounced back well from a shock home defeat by London Broncos which was labelled an embarrassment by captain Matt Diskin.

“It was good to get some smiles back on our faces,” said Bradford coach Francis Cummins.

“We well and truly let ourselves down last week. I said to them that it would have been awful to end the season on that note. The players have showed a lot of character. They have worked really hard and it’s pleasing to see them rewarded.”

The game ended on a fitting note when Lulia, who is returning to Australia’s NRL next season, scored the last of Bradford’s 10 tries with the final touch of the match.

Bradford: Naughton, Kear, Wood, Lulia, Foster, Sammut, Gale, Evans, Diskin, Manuokafoa, Olbison, Addy, Donaldson. Substitutes: Platt, O’Brien, Mellor, Conroy.

Huddersfield: Connor, Blackmore, George, Lawrence, Dawson, Wood, Miller, Mullally, Faiumu, Johnson, Ta’ai, Cording, Fairbank. Substitutes: Leeming, Aspinall, Mason, Blagbrough.

Referee: B Thaler (Wakefield).