Crusaders 44 Bradford Bulls 20: Bradford Bulls are brushed aside as Crusaders double up

Both clubs were desperate to end losing runs which included them shipping over 50 points each the previous weekend, with the Crusaders going down by half a century at Harlequins and Bradford suffering a nine-try mauling at home to Huddersfield Giants.

There was also further incentive for the Bulls to break their poor sequence having lost two of the three Super League games between the teams since the Crusaders joined the top flight.

The previous one of those was the May 1 beating at the Murrayfield Magic weekend when the Bulls were sunk 19-0.

Even without influential scrum-half Jarrod Sammut, who is out for three months with a fractured cheekbone, the Crusaders fancied getting a first double in the Super League.

And they got off to a great start as former Wales rugby union star Gareth Thomas finished off a neat movement involving Mark Bryant and Tony Martin to grab the opening score.

It got better for the Welsh club when a sweeping movement inside the Bulls' 22 saw the Crusaders create a two-man overlap that centre Vince Mellars turned into a second try.

It started to look like one-way traffic when second-row Weller Hauraki was put over between the posts by scrum-half Rhys Hanbury, with full-back Clinton Schifcofske converting all three touchdowns.

Bradford looked ordinary, struggling to complete consecutive sets of six and hardly threatening the home half.

All that changed, though, as the Bulls found their way into the home 25 for the first time in the match and saw centre Chris Nero go over in the corner after being put through by full-back Dave Halley.

Halley then rounded off a neat move to strike between the posts which, with Paul Sykes's conversion putting the Bulls within eight points, but Schifcofske's penalty near half-time increased the lead to 20-10.

Second-row Michael Worriney grabbed Bradford's third try but the Bulls found the 10-point deficit restored when Martin rounded off a good attack down the right.

Halley nearly got Bradford's fourth touchdown when he tried to latch onto a neat kick to the left corner only for home replacement Luke Dyer, who had gone on for Homas, to clear the ball away.

Bradford were dominating towards the hour, and only a desperate hand from Mellars stopped Joe Wardle.

A lack of concentration let the Bulls down as the ball went loose on the left with the line at their mercy.

Yet for all that pressure and the near-misses, the Crusaders took one of the few chances they had in the second half to give the Yorkshire side a mountain to climb as the game reached the final stages.

The Welshmen's sixth Super League win of the season was sealed when the outstanding Rhys Hanbury put Nick Youngquest over near the posts.

Then it was exhibition time as Lincoln Withers and Martin combined before the Crusaders' hooker plunged over.

Elliot Whitehead's final try for the Bulls was merely consolation for their hard work in the second period.

Crusaders: Schifcofske, Thomas, Martin, Mellars, Youngquest, Lupton, Hanbury, O'Hara, Withers, Bryant, Hauraki, Chan, Winternstein. Substitutes: Dyer, Peek, Flower, James.

Bradford Bulls: Halley, Sheriffe, Wardle, Nero, Reardon, Sykes, Kearney, Scruton, L'Estrange, Hall, Worrincy, Whitehead, Menzies. Substitutes: Addy, Kopczak, Crossley, Godwin.

Referee: Phil Bentham (Warrington).