Chuffed Bulls Senior Academy boss Basil Richards hailed his players after their magnificent effort against Leeds Rhinos.

His young side pulled off an amazing 28-22 success at Headingley Carnegie, despite trailing by 18 at the break.

"We were 22-0 down after 25 minutes and 22-4 at the break," Richards recalled.

"But I just told them to start believing in themselves. We weren't playing poorly, just making a few silly errors and I was really proud of how they came back like that.

"We had a lot of under-18s playing against people like Ali Lauitiiti, Nick Scruton and Carl Ablett but they and produced a terrific performance."

Prop Nathan Armitage led the way with a tireless display and full back Dave Halley also impressed, starting the fightback with a try just before the break.

Further scores came from Richie Hawkyard, Vinnie Finigan, Larne Patrick and Paul Mennell, Mennell converting his own effort to level it at 22-22, George Flanagan burrowing over for the decider on 75 minutes.

Hawkyard tagged on the extras to leave the Rhinos deflated. The Bulls are back in action tomorrow night against Wigan at Orrell RUFC (7.30).

The Bulls under-18s went down 16-10 against Leeds and face Wigan at Odsal on Sunday (2.30).

Steve Ganson will referee the Wigan clash on Friday night - the first time he has taken charge of a Bulls game since his Millennium Magic blunder.