Bulls under-20s coach Stu Barrow saluted his spirited young guns after they slipped to a 28-12 defeat at star-studded Keighley last night.

Jason Demetriou’s Cougars, featuring former Super League stars such as Semi Tadulala, Richie Barnett, Sam Obst and Michael Korkidas, were rewarded for their early dominance with tries from Tadulala and Danny Lawton.

Yet a rookie Bulls side, featuring only three regular first-team players in Shaun Ainscough, Kyle Briggs and Danny Addy, fashioned a hugely encouraging response.

They hit back through prop Johnny Payne and led at the break when Briggs scored and converted a fine individual try.

Cougars’ class and experience told after the break when Barnett scored twice before Gavin Duffy and new signing Matt Parata took their try tally to six, although Bradford were in no way disgraced.

Barrow, whose side lost the same fixture 46-12 at this time last year, said: “We showed a lot of character against a very mature and experienced set of lads.

“I think eventually that experience and maturity wears down young men but they will learn a lot from it and it was great for them to play against these guys.

“We didn’t shy away from the challenge. We embraced it and we were pleased with it.”

Barrow could take plenty of positives from the performances of the likes of scrum half Callum Windley, hooker Connor Spencer and prop Liam McAvoy.

Barrow added: “I thought Liam McAvoy had a really good stint up the middle, Connor Spencer was impressive at No 9 and took his opportunity.

“We were really up against it in the second half defensively, and I was really, really pleased with how we handled a lot of the things thrown at us.

“We’ve got some more strength in depth this year.”