Magic Weekend: Huddersfield Giants put Bulls to the sword

The Giants had nine different tryscorers as they revelled in ideal conditions at the Etihad Stadium to pile on more agony for relegation-threatened Bradford with a 54-16 triumph.

Winners by 66-18 at Odsal in March, Huddersfield beat the Bulls 42-6 at the 2013 Magic Weekend and they once again had too much pace and power for an under-strength side who had just one specialist prop and a rather inexperienced bench.

It was the Bulls' seventh defeat in eight Magic Weekend fixtures, yet they twice held the lead after making an outstanding start.

Second rower Adrian Purtell was instrumental in their early tries, standing in the tackle to get stand-off Danny Addy for the opening score and combining with centre Adam Henry to work winger Jamie Foster over at the corner.

Foster added one goal as Bradford led 10-6 but Huddersfield had already demonstrated their potency with the returning Brett Ferres carving out an early try for centre Joe Wardle and they quickly seized control of the match.

Brough got his side into the perfecting attacking position with a 40-20 kick and, after Ferres had been brought down just short of the line, hooker Shaun Lunt forced his way over from the play-the-ball to give the Giants a lead on which they steadily built.

The Giants scored two tries in the last five minutes of the first half.

Pace

Brough sliced through the Bulls defence to create a try for his half-back partner Luke Robinson and right winger Jodie Broughton then demonstrated the pace that once saw him crowned Super League's fastest man.

He took Leroy Cudjoe's pass in space 20 metres from his own line and turned full-back Lee Gaskell inside out on a thrilling run to the line. Brough converted all four tries as Huddersfield led 24-10 at the break.

Henry thought he had scored a third try for the Bulls when he was the first to reach Addy's grubber kick on the last tackle, but video referee Ian Smith disallowed the try for a knock-on.

Huddersfield were also denied moments later when forward David Faiumu broke clear to get Lunt on a run to the line but he lost the ball in Elliot Kear's last-ditch tackle.

However, there was no stopping Brough on 52 minutes when he supported a clean break by Larne Patrick and he converted his own try to make it 30-10.

Brough's astute kicking game enabled the Giants to maintain the pressure and the Bulls defence duly cracked four more times in the space of 14 minutes.

Full-back Scott Grix exploited a gap out wide to touch down whereas forwards Ukuma Ta'ai, Anthony Mullally and Patrick all took the direct route, powering their way past tiring defenders from 15 metres out.

Brough maintained his 100 per cent record with the boot by landing his ninth conversion but Bradford at least had the final say when a strong run from skipper Matt Diskin set up the position for Foster to score his second try of the match.