THANK heavens Huddersfield Giants don't have to play Bradford Bulls every week!
The Giants have now had 17 attempts to beat the Bulls in Super League, and have failed on every occasion.
In fact, they seem no closer to beating Bradford now than they did eight years ago when they took their first tentative top-flight steps.
Victories have been achieved against all others sides in Super League, including Leeds and St Helens.
But when it comes to the Bulls it always seems a different matter, with the same old story emerging time and time again.
On all 17 occasions, it's been a case of the Giants being overpowered by their West Yorkshire rivals. The script never seems to change.
Twice last season, Huddersfield suffered 50-point defeats at Odsal, while during their reigns at the Giants, Tony Smith saw his side destroyed 78-18 in 2001 and John Kear witnessed a 60-point home reverse the year before.
And the Bradford misery continued again last night as coach Jon Sharp watched his side out-muscled and out-played during a painful second 40 minutes.
There was some early hope as the Giants fought back from an early 16-0 deficit to close the gap to four points by the 33rd minute.
But, crucially, Marcus Bai raced in for the Bulls' fourth try against the run of play just before the break and the outstanding Stuart Fielden crashed over within three minutes of the restart to make it 28-12 and the writing was on the wall.
By the end of the contest, the home side had added four further scores, all of which were converted by Paul Deacon, to leave the Giants battered, bruised and heavily beaten.
The challenge now is obviously for Sharp to pick up his side ahead of this Saturday's televised clash against crisis club Wigan.
And if they can show the spirit that was in evidence for the second half of the opening period, they will be fine.
The visitors' start couldn't have been any worse, with Chris Nero forced off with a neck injury after just three minutes and Paul Reilly then following down the tunnel 12 minutes later with a heavy bang to the head.
Thankfully, both men were able to return, but the Bulls took full advantage of the early disruptions to race into a 16-0 lead by the 19th minute.
Debut man Terry Newton, Paul Johnson and Deacon all crossed for scores as Huddersfield were being forced to reshuffle their side, with Deacon adding two of the goals.
But following the introduction of the magnificent Brad Drew the tide began to turn.
After 24 minutes, the Australian hooker had made a significant mark, collecting the ball from acting half deep inside his own half and dummying his way clear to feed the supporting Chris Thorman to show great pace to finish off by the posts.
The skipper then added the extras and the Giants could smell blood.
Another great break from Drew almost released in-form winger Martin Aspinwall four minutes later.
But the increasing Huddersfield pressure eventually told seven minute before the break.
An attempted kick-through by Thorman on the sixth tackle rebounded off a defender close to the line and Nero was on hand to collected and plunge for a second converted score. It was 16-12.
Unfortunately, for the Giants, the Bulls' response was clinical.
Four minutes later Bai cut through and then Fielden followed up with his score early in the second half.
A sparkling move extended Bradford's advantage to 34-12 in the 55th minute, and damage limitation was the Giants' sole priority.
Drew arrested the decline midway through the half when he combined with Nero to score a brilliant solo try.
But in the final 15 minutes Lesley Vainikolo (twice) and Karl Pryce shot over for converted tries to round off another miserable night for the Giants against Bradford Bulls.
* Flyers coach tickets to London Harlequins on Saturday, April 29, have gone on sale. They are priced at £27 return and are available from Tony Iredale Travel.
