Bulls teenage prospect Paul Deacon made a try scoring debut last night and then urged coach Matthew Elliott to pitch him into the Headingley cauldron for Friday's derby showdown with the Super League pacesetters.

Deacon, 18, impressed in place of the departed Shaun Edwards as the Bulls ended a three-match losing sequence with a 36-10 win over basement outfit Huddersfield Giants at Odsal.

And the youngster is unfazed by the daunting prospect of a 20,000 plus crowd against the Rhinos saying: "I definitely want to be part of it and I hope I did enough today to prove to Matthew that I am worth a place in the starting line-up.

"The step up in pace was a big one but I really enjoyed it. Support play is a big part of my game and it is frustrating sometimes when you don't get the ball.

"When I supported Robbie Paul for the try I thought my chance had gone when he didn't give it to me the first time but he then popped it up and I just had to put the ball down."

Elliott was full of praise for Deacon who has been called up for the Emerging England squad to face Wales at Widnes next month.

"He is intelligent, cool and a good rugby player - the kid's unflappable and he is an absolute coach's dream."

Elliott also picked out Deacon's Academy team mate Stuart Fielden who came off the bench to give a further indication of his promise.

"He went really well again and it was just a shame that his great pass to Robbie was ruled forward because that was all over a try. "

But Elliott was not carrying carried away with the overall performance of his side.

"I don't think we were great. In the first-half we played the style of rugby we need to play but after the break, we lost focus on what we needed to do, though I wouldn't say we took our foot off the gas.

"I am really pleased that the players started to make their point to our spectators.

"They came out and made a statement about how badly they felt about how they had played and it is something they have really been conscious about."

Elliott, who made late changes yesterday with wingers Abi Ekoku (hand) and Andy Hodgson (ankle) ruled out through injury, hopes to be in a stronger position for Friday's revenge mission at Headingley.

Brian McDermott looks certain to return after missing the last two games following a cartilage operation while Sonny Nickle is also making good progress after sustaining a whiplash injury against Wigan recently.

The Rhinos hope to have the capacity increased to around 23,000 this week. Tickets are available from Odsal in a bid to ease congestion at the turnstiles.

The Academy side defeated Featherstone Rovers 28-12 in yesterday's curtain-raiser.

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