MARK Dunning has challenged his reserves outfit to back up their impressive opening-round display – when they take on fierce rivals Leeds Rhinos on Saturday.

The clash, which is being played at Stanningley RLFC, is the second of the 2020 campaign following a narrow defeat at Hull FC last time out.

Matthew Race, Dewi Billingham and Ryan Butterworth all scored in the trip to Humberside – against a strong Airlie Birds side that featured the likes of Albert Kelly and Mane Fonua.

Expecting another ‘fierce’ West Yorkshire derby, the reserves head coach is calling for more of the same this weekend.

“I was delighted with the Hull performance – we did a lot of things well but there are some things we can get better on,” said Dunning.

“We have worked on them and we are really excited with how we can go forward from that first performance at Hull.

“In pre-season we have challenged the players on different things, one of those is if they can back up their performance – are they mentally and physically tough enough.

“I thought they did that well from Hunslet to York and then York to Hull FC – Leeds away is always a tough test so we will see how they back up this week.

“You always look out for Leeds away when the fixture comes out and we expect nothing less than a fierce West Yorkshire derby this weekend.

“We will be playing against quality players week in, week out but we have quality players and it is up to our lads to stand up and put a marker down.”

Bulls reserves squad: Cameron Berry, Dewi Billingham, Ryan Butterworth, Isaac Coleman, Elliot Culling, Keelan Foster, Cobi Green, Bradley Ho, Billy Jowitt, Luke Littlewood, James McGurk, Ethan O'Hanlon, Kian Oldroyd, Matthew Race, Reece Ripley, Jacob Smillie, Murphy Smith, Sam Smith, Alix Stephenson