Weary Bradford cling to top

Paul Deacon provided the spark for Bradford Bulls

Bradford 48-20 Huddersfield-Sheffield

Bradford hung on to top spot in Super League after a second-half scoring blitz finally broke the resistance of bottom club Huddersfield-Sheffield.

The Bulls, lacking six regulars and clearly tiring after titanic struggles against title rivals Wigan and St Helens in the previous week, managed to find enough stamina to chalk up their 30th successive home win and condemn the Giants to their ninth defeat on the trot.

England scrum-half Paul Deacon was again an inspirational figure, providing the impetus for the Bradford's second-half surge by dummying his way over for a try within two minutes of the restart.

He then helped lay on many of the further tries which broke the spirited resistance of the Giants.

The Bulls had already notched 92 points against the Giants in two previous outings this season and it looked to be a similar story when they led 10-0 after eight minutes through tries by forward Jamie Peacock and winger Tevita Vaikona.

Sin-binned

But then the Bulls were rocked when playmaker Henry Paul was sin-binned for interference and the Giants capitalised.

With forwards David Lomax and David Bradbury leading the way they kept the pressure on Bradford and were rewarded after 23 minutes when half-backs Chris Thorman and Gene Ngamu combined well to send full-back Paul Reilly in for a try.

Ngamu added two goals to add more pressure and the Bulls were far from comfortable when they went in with a 12-8 interval lead.

But then Deacon took a hand to spark a scoring burst of 22 points in 15 minutes as prop Brian McDermott, centre David Boyle and Vaikona all crossed in quick succession to make it 34-8.

Refusal to yield

Even then the Giants refused to yield and cut the deficit with two tries in three minutes from forwards Dale Laughton and Lomax.

Deacon then took a hand again, however, to find the gaps and substitute full-back Paul Sykes, one of four teenagers in the weakened Bulls line-up, crossed for two tries and Vaikona finished in style for a spectacular hat-trick while Henry Paul landed six goals.

There were a lot of really fatigued players out there and that showed, particularly in the first half but the most pleasing feature for me was the way our younger guys performed

Bradford coach Matthew Elliott

Bradford coach Matthew Elliott said: "There were a lot of really fatigued players out there and that showed, particularly in the first half but the most pleasing feature for me was the way our younger guys performed.

"Of the 17 on duty today nine had come through our junior development programme which says a lot."

Huddersfield coach John Kear said: "The Bulls had a few out but they were still too big, too strong and too fast for us. It was pleasing to get three tries against them but that doesn't compensate for the missed tackles."

Teams:

Bradford: Withers, Wilkinson, Pryce, Boyle, Vaikona, R. Paul, Deacon, Fielden, Lowes, Anderson, Peacock, Radford, H. Paul. Replacements: Sykes, Parker, Smith, McDermott.
Hudd-Sheff: Reilly, Sovatabua, Gleeson, Arnold, Cooper, Ngamu, Thorman, Lomax, Lawless, Laughton, Bradbury, Marshall, Hardy. Replacements: Dekkiche, Molloy, Rice, Russell.
Referee: Steve Presley (Castleford)