Steve McNamara hailed debutant Matt Orford after the Bulls’ high-profile signing dazzled on his first outing in English rugby.

It is very early days for the Aussie scrum half but he did a superb job of dictating play in difficult conditions during the Bulls’ 18-16 win at Hull KR last night.

Orford played a significant role in all three tries to make Bradford’s final pre-season outing a productive one.

And McNamara’s side look in good shape ahead of their Super League opener at Huddersfield next Friday.

“Matt’s come up with three try-scoring plays for us and his control of the whole game was pretty good,” said the Bulls boss.

“I thought we were slow out of the blocks in the first 20 minutes but after that I thought we completely controlled field position for large parts of the first half and most of the second half.

“We managed to get the ball over the try-line and kick a few goals to win the game. In these conditions, which we’ll be facing at the start of the season, it’s very important to be able to do that.”

But the delight of Orford’s debut was tempered by an injury to Craig Kopczak, stretchered off with a suspected broken leg.

McNamara said: “I think it was a productive outing. I’m pretty disappointed about Craig Kopczak because it looks like he’s broken his leg, which is something we could have done without.

“In terms of a tough hit-out in extremely tough conditions, I’m quite pleased with our bunch. Stuart Reardon took a heavy hit as well but it’s just a dead leg so he’ll be okay.”