St Helens 34-22 Bradford Bulls

The Bulls – who have been the form team in the first three weeks of the engage Super League – had no answer to Saints’ fire-power in the first half, and went down to an eventual 34-22 defeat.

The home side looked like the St Helens of 2006 once again, much to the Bulls’ despair, as the champions raced into a 28-0 lead after just 20 minutes of rugby.

Saints took the lead after just three minutes, Ian Fozzard touching down, with further tries from Ade Gardner, Jon Wilkin, Willie Talua and Lee Gilmour, along with four conversions from 17-year-old Steve Tyrer.

However, with St Helens scoring at a rate that would have seen them eventually amass 112 points, Bradford found their spark again; tries from Shontayne Hape and Jamie Langley reducing the half-time deficit to 28-12.

The restart saw Tyrer complete a dream first-team debut, as the teenager grabbed a try and converted to shift the momentum back Saints’ way.

But the Bulls found it within themselves to fight back over the second forty minutes, Davod Solomona touching down for an unconverted try before Hape’s second score was converted by Paul Deacon.

But this was not enough for the visitors to take anything from the game: Bradford will rue the loss of their 100 per cent record, while Saints will celebrate the resumption of normal service.