NEW recruits Chester Butler and Samy Kibula were able to don the Bradford Bulls jerseys for the first time as they starred in the club's reserve game against League 1 side Midlands Hurricanes over the weekend.

It was a narrow 16-14 defeat for Mark Dunning's young guns at Odsal in what proved to be a useful final friendly.

Good play by Welsh international Butler - who signed a season-long loan from Huddersfield Giants last week - led to Taylor Mail being able to kick behind the Hurricanes defence, and allow Charlie Harris to score his first Bradford try since his move from Castleford Tigers.

It was the visitors who dominated most of the first 40 minutes and made it count thanks to a score from Hayden Freeman.

After the break, Travis O’Loughlin gave Midlands the lead before Joe Burton went over in spectacular fashion.

Another six points pushed the newly-formed club ahead though leaving Bulls with work to do as the the hooter was about to sound.

Jack Briggs did his part in reducing the deficit with a late try but it was failure from the resultant kick that let the hosts down in the end.

However, plenty of positives can be taken as both back rower Butler and forward Kibula, a smart signing from Warrington Wolves, gained valuable pitch time, so did the reserves with a game over at St Helens on Friday opening their league season.

In other news, Bulls' first team finally found out when they will be beginning their Betfred Challenge Cup campaign.

At the start of the month, John Kear's men were drawn against London Broncos at the fourth round stage.

It has since been announced that their trip down to the capital will happen on Sunday, February 27 (3pm kickoff).

Bradford will hope to do better than they did in the cup last season, when they were well beaten at Featherstone Rovers in round one (in a smaller competition due to the coronavirus pandemic).

They can take solace from their last visit to London, as they grabbed a 33-8 win last May in the two side's Championship meeting.

Jermaine Coleman's team are also pointless thus far in 2022. The Broncos have lost to Widnes Vikings, Halifax Panthers and Whitehaven in this year's Championship competition.

There are a couple of other standout ties in round four, with Halifax Panthers hosting Featherstone Rovers, and Newcastle Thunder visiting York City Knights.

All those ties will take place on the weekend of February 26-28.