Dewsbury 8, Bulls 20

A Dewsbury mudbath was a far cry from his usual Sydney sunshine but it could not stop Steve Menzies oozing class on his Bulls debut.

The Kangaroos Test star made his name tearing up the NRL with his sublime skills during a glorious 15-year career at Manly.

They came on Australia’s beautiful, firm pitches; the surface last night was anything but.

The second-row would have been forgiven for wincing when he saw the state of the Tetley’s Stadium pitch – waterlogged, cut-up and covered in sand.

Yet it did not bother him the slightest. The majority of his new club’s finest moments in their opening friendly came courtesy of the new ‘kid’.

Menzies may be 35 but he raced around like a man possessed and it took only two minutes for him to make his first impact.

Sprinting clear on the last tackle, he found space to send Jason Crookes on his way and it needed a desperate Dewsbury tackle to stop Rikki Sheriffe finishing with a try on his own debut.

A few seconds later and it needed three tacklers to stop Menzies forcing his way over after a great inside ball from the impressive Glenn Morrison.

He then came up with the decoy run which allowed Crookes space for Bradford’s opening try, the young three-quarter showing great strength to finish strongly after Paul Deacon and Ben Jeffries combined.

But Menzies is equally revered for his defensive quality and that was shown brilliantly in the 16th minute.

Keegan Hirst is a massive old-school prop forward for Dewsbury, weighing in at almost 18 stone, but Menzies made him shrink to nothing after rushing up to produce a huge hit on the forward, dislodging the ball with the sheer force of his tackle.

It brought another rendition of “Beaver, Beaver” from the Bulls fans, who have instantly found a new hero.

Next up he showed his deft hands with a wonderful slip pass at the line to send Jeffries sprinting clear from inside his own half.

Chris Spurr was called upon to finally drag down Mike Worrincy and deny another try-scoring opportunity.

A flat ball from Wayne Godwin – who impressed at number nine in Terry Newton’s absence – put Steve Crossley over between the sticks in the 25th minute, with Deacon’s kick making it 10-0.

The Bulls added to their lead two minutes after the break when Menzies broke down the right to give Michael Platt a run-in, Deacon again doing the rest.

But part-timers Dewsbury, who had tackled well all night, did not give up and hit back with two tries to frighten Steve McNamara’s side.

Austin Buchanan and Liam Finn got the four-pointers and, with the pitch worsening by the minute to help ‘level up’ the sides, there was some fear.

However, Worrincy picked up a loose Dewsbury pass to race in from 40 metres, the second-rower showing the pace which persuaded McNamara to buy him from Harlequins over the winter.

He trudged off later though with a shoulder injury but Deacon tagged on his third conversion of the night to make it 20-8.

Menzies played for more than a hour before departing – without injury – and he had looked the part. Super League fans, not just Bradford, are in for a treat.

By that point, you could only recognise him by his trademark head gear but he had made his impression.

His compatriot Morrison was outstanding in the middle and the pair quickly struck up a promising understanding, while World Cup man Jamie Langley did admirably as a makeshift prop.

At 18, Crookes showed he is blossoming into an exciting centre on his first real run-out with the senior side, while at full back Platt returned everything Dewsbury kicked at him with interest despite the underfoot conditions.

Like Crookes, another England Academy international – Crossley – muscled up well, while Matt Cook ran hard in the second row.

It was a tougher hit-out than expected for Bradford but it proved useful and will not do them any harm. Next up is Whitehaven and then it’s kick-off time at Harlequins.