Dewsbury 0, Bulls 50

The Bulls began their Challenge Cup charge in ideal fashion, flinging a potential banana skin out of their path by thumping Dewsbury.

So much could have gone wrong against the fired-up and physical hosts, especially in a game they were expected to win, but Bradford impressively combined grit with panache to ease into the fifth round.

A 100 per cent first-half completion rate, allied with some devastating touches of class, meant they were home and dry by half-time, leading 38-0.

And although the second half only yielded two further tries, the fact that one of them was scored by Danny Addy will prove particularly pleasing.

On his competitive first-team debut, the young back-rower looked like a seasoned performer, as did fellow academy graduate Tom Olbison. The mix of veteran nous and youthful spark in the Bulls side worked a treat.

The gap in strength, skill and sharpness was clear right from the start. Although Dewsbury could not be found wanting for effort, they were simply unable to contain their Super League visitors.

Within four minutes, the Bulls were ahead thanks to an inventive piece of play from the rampant Glenn Hall, the bulky forward throwing a smart offload out of the tackle, allowing Wayne Godwin to send Elliott Whitehead over.

Showing a side to his game that does not often come to the fore, Hall was at it again soon after, another offload sending Whitehead clear 40 metres out, only for his pass to hit ground as three men begged for the ball.

But it mattered little. Bradford were simply unstoppable and their huge advantage in power was once more glaring for the second try.

Hitting a short ball from Jamie Langley close to the sticks, Nick Scruton seemed to have no way through as he pounded into a wall of Dewsbury tacklers. But the Bulls prop merely continued on with bodies draped all over him before twisting to score, Matt Orford improving.

Deserving of a try from his early efforts, Hall was held up over the line, yet did not have to wait long for a chance to celebrate.

Having terrorised the hosts with his considerable strength, he displayed another string to his bow as a neat piece of footwork saw him dance through a gap from Kearney’s pass, Orford adding the extras.

Barely afforded a sniff of ball in opposition territory throughout the first quarter, the Rams finally got going on the back of three consecutive penalties.

Attempt after attempt was repelled by the Bulls’ solid goal-line defence during a short purple patch and Andy Bostock looked to have got over when he hit a gap out wide.

But the centre lost control of the ball as he dived over the whitewash and Dewsbury were swiftly punished.

From the resultant scrum, a Bradford set move sliced the defence wide open, Steve Menzies sending Kearney through a gap inside his own 20.

Turning on the afterburners, the jet-heeled Aussie could not be caught despite a valiant chase from James Lockwood, running in from more than 80 metres before Orford added the conversion.

It only got better for Bradford and Hall soon doubled his own delight, taking a neat pass from the lively Godwin and stretching out of the tackle to plonk the ball down right on the try-line.

The steady scoring rate continued in the lead-up to the break, the Bulls scoring twice more to rack up a pleasing half-time lead.

Kearney doubled his own personal tally with an angled run to the line, his momentum – and a little help from Mike Worrincy – carrying him over the line despite the attentions of two tacklers.

And Bradford struck again with the final play of the opening 40 minutes, Godwin gaining reward for an energetic half after Orford had dabbed a grubber kick into the in-goal area.

Orford converted in his last piece of action before departing the field for the start of the second half.

Heath L’Estrange was instead deployed at scrum half and it did not take him long to get involved, driving over the whitewash after an enterprising spell of play from the visitors.

Addy stepped up to kick the conversion and his first points in a competitive first-team game for the club.

But having been virtually error-free throughout the first half, Bradford lost something in organisation with Orford’s departure and their steady scoring tick was disrupted as a result.

They was still plenty of willingness to pile on the points, yet that was part of the problem, the ball at times being thrown about with abandon as they continually looked to get it wide early.

As the match looked set for a slow, peaceful death, tempers suddenly ignited after an incident involving Worrincy and Lockwood.

A farcical string of events saw the referee talk to both players at length, as well as Scruton, and then hand a penalty to Dewsbury without actually seeming to signal what it was for.

Worrincy was obviously wound up about something, playing like a man possessed for the ensuing five minutes, although he almost lost his rag after taking exception to a hit from Scott Turner on Michael Platt.

Standing no chance of winning the tie, the Rams were keen to make their mark on it any way they could, although their brinkmanship proved to be a dangerous game.

Adam Robinson was lucky to escape action for a high shot on Godwin but Lee Lingard was shown yellow as the penalties began to mount up.

The shame for Dewsbury was that prior to the sin-binning they had played some of their best rugby, a break from Ed Barber almost seeing Ayden Faal escape down the left flank.

But a man down, they were always going to concede again and Addy was the man who stepped up to take the chance on his competitive debut.

After Worrincy had been halted just short, Addy showed strength to drive through the goal-line defence before getting up to kick the conversion himself.

Attendance: 3,995