Rhinos 12 Bulls 10

 Matt Orford’s absence was a major talking point prior to kick-off at Headingley but performance on the pitch quickly took any emphasis off the Bulls’ sidelined star.

With field work in the build-up to the game limited by the Arctic conditions, Bradford boss Steve McNamara decided not to rush his winter acquisition into action against bitter rivals Leeds.

But the Bulls hardly seemed to miss their key pivot, despite a narrow 12-10 defeat, showing enough to suggest the new season holds plenty of promise.

In Orford’s absence, Brett Kearney stepped up to the mark, as he had done at Castleford on Boxing Day, seamlessly slotting in at scrum half, with Paul Sykes employed at stand-off.

Kearney revelled in the extra responsibility, his pace and kicking game a constant threat to a Leeds side that was determined to mark Matt Diskin’s testimonial game with a win.

The 26-year-old Aussie also benefited from excellent service by Heath L’Estrange, who provided craft and spark out of dummy half, leaving McNamara pleased with a productive hit-out.

McNamara said: “The spotlight is going to be on Matt Orford when he enters the field of play.

“The poor bloke has been here two weeks, he’s not managed to put his boots on yet.

“We assessed him the first week, physically and medically, he’s trained a couple of times indoor with the team and the indoor sessions aren’t great for players’ joints anyway so you have to restrict the amount of time you’re out there.

“To then stick him out at Headingley in what is always a big game, with the spotlight on him, would be unfair.

“He was desperate to go out there but the bigger picture had to come into play.

“He’ll now train on grass with us, hopefully for the next couple of weeks, and we get ready to play at Hull KR.

“Brett’s shown us that we have another genuine half in our side now.

“We didn’t bring him across to play out-and-out No 7 but he’s shown in this game and the Castleford game that he’s more than capable of doing that so it’s very encouraging.”

From the first defensive set Bradford meant business, each Leeds ball-handler hunted down by a stampede of charging Bulls.

With the Rhinos barely able to escape their own 20-metre zone, the opening promised much yet disappointingly petered out.

A couple of penalties were conceded and suddenly the hosts were on the front foot.

The Bulls were a touch fortunate to escape after Ali Lauitiiti intercepted a loose ball, the big second row going to ground just as the field appeared to be opening up for him.

But, under pressure, Bradford mopped up well before a moment of magic from Kearney turned a precarious position into a promising one.

Angling a good line onto the short ball, the Aussie scrum half turned on the afterburners to blast straight through a gap in the line.

Kearney seemed destined for the try-line but, as Leeds got bodies across to cover, he looked for the men outside and his grubber kick evaded both Jason Crookes and Rikki Sheriffe before trickling out of bounds.

The former Cronulla man continued to prod and probe at the defence and almost caused problems with another grubber at the end of a smart move sparked by Steve Menzies.

A clever pass out of the back from the Aussie back-rower gave Stuart Reardon the chance to take on the line.

Dancing through a couple of tackles, Reardon off-loaded to Kearney in front of the posts but, with space quickly closing up, his kick was comfortably fielded by Kallum Watkins.

Despite those fleeting chances, neither side was able to build any consistent pressure, although Leeds were first to make one of their opportunities count.

Proving his undeniable pedigree with his first touch of the ball, Rhinos’ former Australian Test star Danny Buderus proved to be the difference.

Opening up the defence from dummy half, he allowed his side to build an unstoppable overlap, Danny McGuire breaking before Scott Donald scored off the pass from Brett Delaney. Kevin Sinfield’s conversion made the lead six.

Leeds kept pressing, keen to build on their advantage, but on the stroke of half-time, Bradford hit back.

Quick play-the-ball and a short ball from Chris Nero gave Reardon the slightest hint of space on the left flank and, with three defenders blocking his path to the line, he produced a sublime off-load out of the tackle to send in the supporting Sykes.

The Bulls stand-off improved his own score to level matters up at the break.

Even considering the supposed ‘friendly’ nature of the game, there was no let-up in intensity when both sides emerged for the second half.

But it was Leeds who started the brighter of the two and raced back into the lead seven minutes after the restart.

The visitors conceded a penalty for interference right in front of their own line and Danny McGuire’s flat, cut-out pass allowed Aussie centre Delaney to grab a try on his debut.

Not to be outdone, the Bulls responded within ten minutes.

After honing his radar with two earlier grubber kicks, Kearney discovered the third time’s a charm, splitting the line with a well-placed effort to the left corner.

Having drawn in the cover defence, Nero managed to get boot to ball, giving Reardon the simplest of touchdowns.

That acted as a major spur for the Bulls and they seriously put the Rhinos to the test throughout the final ten minutes.

They could even have levelled the game after being given a kickable penalty late on, instead deciding to have another run at the Leeds defence by taking the tap.

But the final result barely mattered.

“I think both teams have come through injury-free and had a fair hit-out,” added McNamara.

“We’ve not touched grass for four weeks and we had to cancel our final practice session yesterday.

“I think that showed in certain aspects of our play but, having not trained outside for four weeks and with all the new players out there, to come up with that was positive for us and encouraging.

“I could have told them to kick that penalty late on and we could’ve come up with a draw. I think it was probably a drawn game as such with two tries apiece in tremendously difficult conditions.

“We did finish pretty strong but, then again, both coaches were making changes.

“I thought we got better as we went on. We created some really good chances. We seemed to be coming out of our own end in the first half in yards and we broke away a couple of times and possibly could have had a couple of tries.

“Everyone could see what Heath L’Estrange is like in and around that area and in Brett Kearney we’ve got someone who can rival some of the quickest halves in the competition.”