Leon leads the rampage

There seemed genuine fears in the Bulls camp that they might be caught suffering from ring-rust as the bid for Murrayfield cup glory kicked off.

But it never looked remotely that way as Matthew Elliott's meticulous planning again paved the way for success.

The Giants seemed to have been taken in by their own publicity and were bitterly disappointing on the day.

But that shouldn't be allowed to detract from a Bulls performance which was both professional and highly encouraging in equal proportion.

The platform for success was the by now familiar exemplary defensive structure, but there were signs too that a more expansive attacking style is on the cards.

And perhaps most encouraging of all on a day when there were many fine individual displays in the Bulls ranks was the great form of skipper Robbie Paul.

His problems with injuries and form are well documented but he gave a reminder of just what the Bulls have been missing.

Brother Henry was his usual classy self and also proved a more than handy goalkicking replacement for Steve McNamara with six from seven attempts - including some beauties from near the touchline in a strong wind.

But he was still outshone by his younger brother who was back taking on the defence in the style which helped make him such a cult figure around Odsal.

It was a shame he didn't cap it off with a try when he couldn't quite re-gather a neat chip from Henry on the line in the second-half, but if he can keep this up he'll soon be grabbing the headlines again.

As it was, most of those went to Leon Pryce who simply started the new campaign as he finished the last to take the sponsor's man of the match award.

His first try owed much to the precise diagonal kick of Robbie Paul, but he's such a natural you feared for opposite number Chris Thorman as soon as the ball went up.

The sight of him emerging with the ball from the aerial challenge was one of the more predictable happenings of the day and he went close to repeating the act minutes later in more testing circumstances from a Henry Paul bomb.

But he soon came up trumps again when Brad Mackay and David Boyle linked up well. There didn't seem anywhere to go when he received the ball but his leggy build make him a difficult opponent to put down as the unfortunate Thorman found to his cost.

The immaculate boot of Henry Paul helped give the Bulls a 16-2 cushion at the break and there really was no way back for the Giants despite their best spell of the match on the re-start.

More great defence kept them at bay before Scott Naylor inspired the Bulls to a rousing finish.

His use of Gene Ngamu as a human doormat paved the way for the try which finally killed off any lingering Giants hopes and sealed the match for the Bulls.

Winger Nathan McAvoy was the grateful recipient of a bullocking run and he capped a much improved display with a fine finish at the corner.

Able full-back deputy Michael With-ers then kicked ahead with great accuracy and nearly lost his head in the process of touching down as the Giants attempted to hack the ball dead.

But the increasingly influential Naylor had the final say with his own rampaging try off Henry Paul's neat pass to round off as good a performance as anyone could have expected so early in the season and in conditions which were the perfect advert for summer rugby.

While the backs provided the scoring touch it was the pack which set the tone for the contest.

Brian McDermott and new recruit Hudson Smith were particularly prominent and young substitutes Lee Radford and Jamie Peacock gave the side great late momentum when they came on.

Things will undoubtedly get tougher for the Bulls this season but this will certainly do for starters.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.