Bradford Bulls 12

Leeds Rhinos 42

All the king's horses and all the king's men better report for duty.

They'll certainly be needed to stitch the fragile Bulls back together again after Brian Noble's already patched-up side were ruthlessly ripped to shreds by the champion Rhinos last night.

The Rhinos ran in seven converted tries - three of which came in a devastating ten-minute spell in the second half - to rack up a record Super League victory at Odsal, comfortably eclipsing the 26-6 victory they posted in Super League III.

The Bulls were in the match right up until the 49th minute. Lee Radford looked certain to score when he burst onto Iestyn Harris's inside ball but he was chopped down by a cynical high tackle from Rhinos full back Richard Mathers just a metre short.

Referee Karl Kirkpatrick, who had been masquerading as the strictest of disciplinarians, saw the incident clearly. But, instead of awarding the Bulls a penalty try and sending Mathers to the bin for a blatant professional foul, he deemed a penalty sufficient punishment - the same punishment meted out to Karl Pratt simply for raising his hands in the air in the first half.

Instead of being four points ahead and playing against 12 men, the Bulls had to settle for a Paul Deacon penalty that levelled matters at 12-12 after Stuart Reardon's excellent finish had cut the 12-6 half-time deficit to just three minutes earlier.

"There was a case for a penalty try but we had other opportunities in the game," said Bulls coach Brian Noble.

"What we didn't do was what we did well last week, apply pressure. We just couldn't find a last play in the first half to reflect our dominance."

And in the second half they paid the price.

Kirkpatrick may have been poor but he was hardly alone in having his inadequacies exposed in front of the 22,843-strong crowd.

As a unit, the Bulls were far from championship material. With Jamie Langley once again pressed into service to partner Stuart Reardon on the right and 18-year-old Karl Pryce playing inside a clearly below-par Lesley Vainikolo on the left, the lack of experienced, tested flank combinations always looked likely to be the Bulls' Achilles heel - and so it proved.

"As a tactician I think you'll find that their double whammy came from us having a young, inexperienced player at centre and a back rower at centre," admitted Noble.

"They played smart in there and opened up a fissure that became a bit of a chasm towards the end."

Quick hands from the Rhinos' backs sent Marcus Bai clear and he kept his composure well to find Keith Senior on the inside once full back Leon Pryce was committed.

Rhinos skipper Kevin Sinfield was the architect of a second try in two minutes as he darted between Karl Pryce and Rob Parker before releasing Liam Botham with a fine offload, Rob Burrow backing up on the inside to finish the flowing move.

Sinfield's fourth conversion put the Rhinos 12 clear before Gareth Ellis applied the killer blow. The former Wakefield skipper, who came so close to stepping into the No 13 shirt at Bradford during the off-season, had already shown Bulls fans what they had missed out on with a try just before the break that put the Rhinos ahead for the first time, after Chev Walker had cancelled out Karl Pryce's opportunistic opener.

And once again it was Ellis's incisive running that pole-axed the Bulls as he streaked through a huge hole, with Brad Meyers only managing to deflect his final pass into the path of Sinfield for the try.

The Bulls rallied briefly, but more Rhinos points always looked likely and they duly arrived via another one-two punch seven minutes from time. Burrow's pass to Mark Calderwood for the first was a mile forward but there was no doubt about Burrow's second, Senior streaking through on the left before presenting the half back the ball on a plate.