Huddersfield Giants 6, Bradford Bulls 52: Two Bulls hookers, both in trademark baseball caps, were signing autographs in the McAlpine Stadium players' bar last night.

The older one is in the twilight of his career, just 23 games away from retirement, while the younger one is just starting out in his.

They are at two ends of the playing spectrum and clearly demonstrate what makes the Bulls so appealing at the moment - that magical blend of youth and experience.

Not only do Brian Noble's men hold the Challenge Cup and have a winning streak stretching back to February, but they also have a galaxy of young stars eagerly knocking at the coach's door for selection.

One of those is 20-year-old hooker Aaron Smith, heir apparent to veteran of the No 9 shirt Jimmy Lowes, who made the best possible start to life at the top with a superb Super League debut in the slaying of the Giants.

"I am learning from the best," said Smith proudly. "I was a bit nervous and it was difficult at first adjusting the pace of the game but I am happy to have got my chance.

"The other lads were great, talking me through the game, helping me out."

Surely only the Bulls can hand a 20-year-old a start at hooker, toss a 21-year-old (Stuart Reardon) in at full back and still run a half-century of points past Super League opponents in an away game.

But that is what they did as they warmed up nicely for the eagerly-awaited visit of arch-rivals Leeds to fortress Odsal last week.

With Leon Pryce suspended and Lowes in need of a rest, Noble made five changes to the side that overcame a numerical disadvantage to overcome Castleford last week.

And from the hooter, it was clear to all those in the beautiful (but empty) stadium that the Bulls still had more than enough talent to give Huddersfield a reminder of how tough life in Super League can be.

Tony Smith's men might have handed out rugby lessons for most of last season's sabbatical in the NFP, but this is the real McCoy, this is Super League.

So when you needlessly knock on 20 metres out at your own play-the-ball you are going to get punished.

It happened to Ben Cooper after three minutes and from the resulting scrum the ball was switched to the right wing and Tevita Vaikona was celebrating the first of what would be nine tries for the Bulls.

Paul Deacon missed the conversion but he got his next chance just seven minutes later when Robbie Paul's impeccable 40-20 set-up the game's second score.

From the scrum the Bulls performed some almost implausible off-loading, particularly from Shontayne Hape and Lee Gilmour, before their skipper Paul dived on a Deacon grubber - this time the scrum-half did get the extras.

Vaikona then handed inside for Scott Naylor to romp over for his 100th career try - celebrated by kicking the ball into the top tier of an empty stand which only a month ago had been full of Bulls fans celebrating their Challenge Cup semi-final victory over Wigan.

After 14 minutes Bradford were 16 points ahead and the game was as good as over as a contest.

Even with a disproportionate number of wayward passes from the Bulls, they were still far to good for the Giants who seemed to be relying far too much on the ineffective former Bull Brandon Costin.

A 25th-minute prop rotation saw Paul Anderson and Rob Parker enter the fray and straight away their introduction bore fruit.

Anderson bumped off a few would-be tacklers like schoolboys before giving the ball to Parker to make the break - he gave it to Vaikona and nothing was going to stop the flying Tongan grabbing his second brace in consecutive games.

Deacon, worryingly, then departed with an eye injury before the scoring for the half was wrapped up by the effervescent Karl Pratt.

The stand-off broke the line, threw a couple of outrageous dummies, including what looked like a fake pass to the touch judge (the only man outside him), before bundling over in the corner.

It was half-time, 28 to the men and zero to the boys.

Even the Bradford fans, who outnumbered the home support, seemed to be showing sympathy for the outclassed Giants and it was only the easing of the foot off the pedal by the Bulls in the second half that saved Huddersfield from some acute embarrassment.

Reardon, who came in at full back while Paul covered the scrum half position, was sensational, catching everything that came near him and ensuring plenty of yards were made with his hot-stepping, scrambling running style.

In the 57th minute Smith did 'a Jimmy', popping up a ball for Paul to run on to on the slant before diving over for his second as the scoring recommenced.

Jamie Peacock's rampaging run from his own half got a massive cheer as the popular second-rower threw an enormous dummy before straining home down the middle for another try at one of his favourite scoring venues.

And Huddersfield didn't even get the ball again before the next, Reardon taking the kick-off cleanly, fighting his way 20 metres up the pitch and then giving Paul a chance to stretch his legs. The skipper won the foot race and completed his hat-trick to bring his total regular season Super League tries to 99.

Three minutes later Parker burst 60 metres down the right before the ball got switched and Lesley Vainikolo, with yet another new haircut, dived over.

The whitewash was avoided when Julian Bailey somehow broke through what had been a resolute Bradford defence for the previous 76 minutes, but his effort was merely a distraction.

This had been a clear case of the Bulls flexing their considerable muscle (and finding new muscles they didn't think they had) ahead of this week's grudge match against the Rhinos.

Tougher tackling, more genuine competition and an extra 14,000 spectators can be expected at Odsal in four days time.