Black and whites beat Bradford Bulls black and blue!

Jamie Langley, knocked out cold after just four minutes and carried off on a stretcher; Matt Diskin and Adam O’Brien later reduced to the sidelines by calf and ankle injuries.

That was worrying enough for Mick Potter, but perhaps even more depressing was the fact that his side were so comprehensively beaten.

A week before the visit of Catalan Dragons in their Super League opener, the Bulls conceded nine tries and lacked the cohesion to build any kind of pressure on their opponents’ line.

Make no mistake about it, new Hull coach Peter Gentle has assembled a decent squad and, with Brett Seymour pulling the strings at scrum half, big things are expected at the KC Stadium this year.

But this was poor stuff from the Bulls.

Their handling was generally woeful and they rarely completed their sets during a torrid second half.

Constantly turning over the ball meant they were always on the back foot and Potter estimated they were forced to make over 300 tackles.

The afternoon was not a total disaster; the Bulls’ scrambling defence held up well during the first half and they trailed only 16-6 at the break.

Yet Hull were generally dominant throughout and led inside two minutes from a scrum when Kirk Yeaman held off Adrian Purtell’s challenge to cross in the left corner.

Danny Tickle landed the conversion and two minutes later, with the Bulls having fashioned their first spell of decent field position in Hull’s half, Langley and former Bradford team-mate Lee Radford clashed heads.

Langley came off considerably worse; he lay motionless on the turf for almost five minutes before his neck was put in a brace and he was carried from the field on a stretcher.

He was replaced by James Donaldson and the Bulls were under the cosh again as Hull continued to pour forward, with Richard Horne and Seymour orchestrating some slick handling sequen-ces.

The Bulls just about held firm, and were rewarded for their resilience in the tenth minute when Jason Crookes intercepted an errant pass from Tony Martin in the left corner and scampered clear from 80 metres.

Luke Gale added the extras but it was not long before Bradford were being forced to defend their line furiously again.

Hull soon had their second try when a clever chip behind the Bulls defence from Seymour was collected by full back Wade McKinnon, who crossed the line with ease, and Tickle’s goal made it 12-6.

Shortly before half-time, Bradford were exposed again down the right flank when Horne collected possession from a quick play-the-ball and raced clear unopposed from 20 metres out.

Tickle could not convert and moments later debutant Jarrod Sammut collected a pass from Tom Burgess on halfway before attempting to hack the ball upfield, only to miss it completely.

With Sammut moved to hooker following the departure of Diskin and O’Brien, the one-way traffic continued after the restart when Yeaman took advantage of some poor defending to saunter over the line in the left corner.

The Bulls then had two noteworthy openings in quick succession, only for poor handling to put paid to both of them.

Yeaman reclaimed centre stage in the 54th minute, touching down for his hat-trick try after Brett Kearney failed to deal with a grubber kick in the left corner.

Five minutes later, Tickle drove over the line in the right corner, and Hull soon had their seventh try when McKinnon outpaced Crookes inside the left channel to go over in the corner.

Try number eight arrived when Tom Briscoe outstripped the Bulls defence after collecting a pass from Yeaman on the halfway line.

Fittingly, perhaps, Radford had the final say when he converted Hull’s ninth try, scored by youngster Danny Nicklas, to bring the curtain down on his 14-year career and earn the loudest cheer of the day.

Hull FC: McKinnon, Sharp, Martin, Yeaman, Briscoe, Horne, Seymour, Radford, Houghton, Moa, Manu, Tickle, Westerman. Replacements: O’Meley, Turner, Lyne, Carroll, Whiting, Green, Nicklas, Aspinwall, Pearce

Bulls: Kearney 6, Crookes 6, Purtell 6, Walker 6, Kear 5, Jeffries 6, Gale 6, Scruton 6, Diskin 6, Hargreaves 6, Sibbit 6, Bateman 6, Langley 6. Replacements: Burgess 7, Joseph 7, O’Brien 6, Donaldson 6, Platt 5, Sykes 6, Sammut 6

Referee: Steve Ganson (St Helens)