Bradford coach Brian Noble preferred to talk about Stuart Fielden than Barrie McDermott after the Bulls defeated Leeds Rhinos 46-18 in their Super League clash at Valley Parade last night.

The pair were again at the heart of the early action as the Grand Final winners gained revenge for two early-season defeats at the hands of their greatest rivals.

Fellow Great Britain prop McDermott was sent off - when the Bulls were leading 22-6 - in the 31st minute for throwing several punches at Fielden, and Noble admitted of their long-running feud: "This has not been an unusual occurrence over the last couple of years."

But he added of Fielden's display: "He was very strong, very sharp and was every inch the front-rower we want him to be. And he showed some great discipline as well to focus on carrying the ball rather than taking retribution on anybody."

However, the Bulls coach, worried that attention might swing too much towards Barrie McDermott's dismissal, said: "I would like not to focus on the sending off because we played some pretty good stuff." The Bulls had lost 17-4 to Leeds at valley Parade in the Challenge Cup in February - their only home defeat since they moved there at the start of the 2001 season - and 28-20 at Headingley in the Super League in May.

And Noble said: "It is not great to be beaten by your biggest rivals twice, but we get them again at Headingley on September 6, and we will have to be as good if not better to beat them."

The Great Britain assistant added: "It was a good win, but we were well in control when Barrie McDermott was sent off. We paid the price for an erratic ten minutes just before half-time when we tried to score with every play.

"And it was about re-focusing in the second half. In the main we defended pretty well, some of our skills in and around the ruck being outstanding.

"We were dominating the game until Paul Deacon was injured in the ninth minute, and him dropping the ball for the Rhinos to score gave Leeds an incentive to go on with it."

"I am really pleased for the boys. They have focused hard this week, and they recognise that every game they play in they have to play reasonably well to get up."

Skipper Robbie Paul twisted his ankle in the closing minutes,

Fielden already had a swelling under his left eye, and Deacon suffered that early blow to his head after accidentally being caught by Keith Senior's knee.

And Noble said: "It was a physical confrontation, but in general we handled it pretty well."

Leeds coach Daryl Powell said of Barrie McDermott: "I'll have a chat with him, but he has been massive for us and I'm not going to criticise him over something I've not clearly seen."