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Bradford 46-18 Leeds

Bradford Bulls opened up a four-point lead at the top of Super League with an easy win over 12-man Leeds.

The Rhinos had Great Britain forward Barrie McDermott sent off for aiming a flurry of blows at international team-mate Stuart Fielden giving the referee little option but to send him off.

The red card probably had little affect on the result as Bradford already led 22-6 and were in control.

It's not great to be beaten by your biggest rivals twice and I think we've taken a step towards redressing the balance

Bulls coach Brian Noble

Leeds, the only visitors to win at Valley Parade in the last two seasons, never seriously threatened to repeat their cup heroics of February.

Bradford scored four tries by half-time but three of them were gift-wrapped by the visitors.

Robbie Paul gave the Bulls an early lead after a handling error by Francis Cummins, but Leeds winger Karl Pratt struck back in similar fashion.

We probably had the youngest pack ever to start a Super League match but they stood up to the Bradford pack and had a real dig

Leeds coach Daryl Powell

Lesley Vainikolo then ran in two more after sloppy Leeds play, before Tevita Vaikona scored a try of real quality to put Bradford in control.

But the dismissal of McDermott served only to spur Leeds to greater efforts and, after Ben Walker had pulled two points back with a penalty, they struck with a superbly-worked second try from Calderwood.

That cut Bradford's lead to 22-14 by half-time but the champions produced a power surge after the break with four more tries, three of them from close range.

First Lee Gilmour crossed before Fielden and Lowes both forced their way over from acting half-back and Withers claimed his 14th try of the season.

The reality is that we play them again before the end of the season and we'll have to be as good if not better to beat them at Headingley

Noble

Deacon, who spent 20 minutes in the blood bin in the first half, maintained his remarkable accuracy with six goals from as many attempts to take his tally for the season to 116.

Leeds claimed the final try of the match when centre Keith Senior forced his way over at the corner just before the end.

Bradford: Withers, Vaikona, Naylor, Gilmour, Vainikolo, Paul, Deacon, Vagana, Lowes, Fielden, Gartner, Peacock, Forshaw. Replacements: Pryce, McAvoy, Radford, McDermott.

Leeds: Cummins, Pratt, Carroll, Senior, Calderwood, B Walker, Sheridan, Ward, Diskin, McDermott, Jones-Buchanan, Bailey, Sinfield. Replacements: Poching, C Walker, McDonald, McGuire.

Referee: Steve Ganson (St Helens)