MARK Dunning admitted the Bulls had “their backsides slapped” after a 10-try demolition from Leigh.

The Championship leaders romped to a 56-6 victory at Odsal – and Dunning felt the home side never game themselves a chance.

“We didn’t do ourselves any favours with the amount of possession we had,” he said. “We’ve given Leigh twice as much ball as us and you can’t do that against a team of that quality.

“That’s the best Championship team I’ve ever seen. They’ve got quality absolutely everywhere – even losing two players to injury they just find more.

“Then you look at the sideline and the people that aren’t playing. It’s going to be a good team that beats them.

“I don’t think you could question effort. I just think the sheer weight of possession and good ball they had mean that we were forever on the back foot.”

Leigh dominated the set count 42-20 on the way to a 15th straight Championship win. Kieran Gill’s 14th try of the season was scant consolation for the overwhelmed Bulls.

Having praised the defensive effort in recent weeks, Dunning was unhappy with the lack of resistance around their own line.

“That’s the most disappointing part for me. They’ve come through our goalline five times and that’s been a real feature of improvement over the last few weeks.

“We let ourselves down on the line. We didn’t have the desperation and the urgency.

“It’s not going to define our season but this club should not be losing like that. It’s a sign of the opposition and where we’re at compared to them.

“I’ve told the players they’ve got to stick together and remain as tight as they have been in the last seven or eight weeks.

“Nobody’s season is over after this. But if we want it to go where we want it to, then games like this and the one at Featherstone have got to be better.”

Aaron Murphy returned from a two-month absence but Chester Butler pulled out in the warm-up after feeling shooting pains in the back of his leg.

Dunning added: “When you lose a player of Chester Butler’s quality, it’s always going to affect you.

“But I’ve got to praise Samy Kibula. He had a real dig for us and has probably gone somewhere near his best performance for this club.”