The Bulls overcame a severe case of first-half fumbles to record a resounding 46-6 victory over Leigh at the Coliseum last night.

Despite committing an appalling array of handling errors in the greasy, bitterly cold conditions the Bulls eventually ran in nine tries to one, with Lesley Vainikolo and Iestyn Harris grabbing doubles and Paul Deacon, Jamie Langley, Rob Parker and the Pryce brothers, Leon and Karl, all getting on the scoresheet.

Despite the error-ridden nature of the performance, coach Brian Noble maintained it was a good dress rehearsal for the upcoming encounters with Hull, Leeds and St Helens.

"In some respects it was the sort of game we needed," said Noble.

"We practised our goal-line defence in the first half and then moved the ball a little bit better in the second.

""We spoke about things at half-time and the players were smart enough to rectify things themselves in the second half.

"We were still a little bit sloppy but to win 46-6 and miss four or five goals was not a bad effort.

"When we do look after the ball we are not bad."

With his side leading just 10-0 against extremely limited opposition, Noble could have been forgiven for reading the riot act at half-time - but he didn't.

"They are too smart for that. Sometimes you have to throw the pots and pans around but we didn't this time.

"We just said 'we have to look after the ball'. We were making it too hard for ourselves again and we would have been punished if we had been playing a better side."

Noble will be hoping the tweaked hamstring suffered by Vainikolo doesn't prove too serious as his replacement Andy Smith suffered the same injury within moments of taking the field.

Leigh also had their problems in what was a rugged encounter, with former Cougars second row Oliver Wilkes stretchered from the field with a head injury and scrum half Jason Feris forced off with a broken cheekbone.

Coach Darren Abram, however, was happy with his side's performance.

"It was a great effort," said Abram. "It was a pity it was Bradford here tonight and not one of the teams that is going to be down the bottom with us like Wakefield, Salford or Huddersfield, because I think we would have come out of it with the points in the bag.

"They punished us at times. Their skill levels, speed of passing and lines of running were hard to watch as an opposing coach but nice to watch as something to aspire to.

"I'm pleased with my lads. But for a couple of blips there might have been a lot less in it."