Bulls acting head coach Lee St Hilaire admitted his side’s 60-12 defeat at St Helens felt like having their “bum smacked”.

After conceding four tries in the opening quarter, Bradford were never in the hunt and their defence was simply unable to contain a rampant Saints.

It was not the kind of display the Bulls would have wanted to produce under the watchful eye of incoming coach Mick Potter, whose side were absolutely ruthless in their execution.

If Saints had been hurting after their Challenge Cup semi-final exit against Leeds the previous week, they took out all their frustrations on the faltering visitors.

“It was very tough,” said St Hilaire. “We came up against a very good St Helens side who were smarting from the weekend and we got the backlash.

“That’s not to say we haven’t done anything wrong because we have. We’ve had our bum smacked.

“I’m hurting and I’ve not even run out on to the field.

“St Helens have come and meant business. I said last week I thought they were only slightly off against winning that game against Leeds and that slightly off was Kyle Eastmond. He was the difference and we’re missing someone like that.”

St Hilaire was left to rue a string of basic errors that once more led to his side’s downfall.

Two penalties conceded in quick succession set the tone early on and a string of mistakes and dropped balls followed.

He said: “The errors coupled with some really silly penalties, like being offside from the kick-off, showed we weren’t on song.

“They are trying and they are trying real hard but once you’re in a rut it’s hard to get out.

“We’ve no general on the field so that makes it harder.”

But the caretaker coach praised the efforts of prop Nick Scruton, who put in a solid performance on his return from a long-term knee injury, and rookie back-rower Tom Olbison.

“There’s some positives,” said St Hilaire. “Nick Scruton came back and added a bit of bite to our side and Tom Olbison has had a good game as well.”