Kiwi ace Henry Paul finally allayed fears on his fitness when he reported back for training with Bradford Bulls yesterday.

The club's major close season signing was the subject of an injury scare when he hurt his neck during the late stages of New Zealand's 20-14 Anzac Test defeat in Sydney last Friday.

But the injury turned out to be nothing more than a pinched nerve and he was able to train normally with his colleagues yesterday.

It means he will go straight back into the side at stand-off against Castleford Tigers on Monday when the Bulls look to consolidate their fine start to the Super League campaign.

"There don't seem to have been any ill effects at all apart from a stiff neck and we are all delighted about that," said Bulls media manager Stuart Duffy.

Brother Robbie is also back from Test duty and likely to take over from Paul Deacon who is expected to earn a place on the bench.

Bernard Dywer (knee) and Scott Naylor (rib) are again missing as coach Matthew Elliott makes his final selection from the 17 who performed so well to defeat Halifax a week ago plus the Paul brothers.

The Tigers give a fitness test today to winger Richard Gay who has a rib injury. If he comes through he is likely to replace youngster Jon Wells who will drop to the bench in place of Danny Ellison.

Media manager Michael McDonald said: "The whole town is excited about this one. We had a great win at Wigan and are desperate to keep the momentum going against Bradford.

"We know how strong a side they are and how much strength in depth they have but we feel we are capable on our day of turning them over.

"We are pretty optimistic that we will have our first 10,000 crowd in Super League such is the level of interest and the excellent travelling support the Bulls have.

"We would advise fans to arrive early because there will be no chance of a delayed kick-off due to the television schedules."

The Bulls remind fans that junior tickets reduced to £2.50 are available from Odsal during normal opening hours today and from 9.30am to 12.30pm on Saturday. They must be purchased in advance.

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