Hat-trick Nero for Bulls

Chris Nero scored three of Bradford's 10 tries as the Bulls crushed Leigh on their way to a place in the last eight of the Carnegie Challenge Cup.

Veteran Steve Menzies touched down twice and Paul Sykes scored 20 points, including eight goals, as the Super League side proved far too strong for the Championship high-flyers.

Brett Kearney, Michael Worrincy, Wayne Godwin and Glenn Hall also crossed, with Martyn Ridyard, Stuart Donlan and Dave Armitstead replying for the Centurions .

The gulf between fifth in Super League and second in the Championship was all too evident as the Bulls raced out of the blocks.

Bradford, having already forced a drop-out from the kick-off and seen Andy Lynch held over the line, needed just three minutes to go ahead.

Steve Maden broke out of the Leigh line to intercept but lost a bouncing ball to Nero and the Bulls centre went over.

The hosts claimed a second as Kearney broke through the line and put Elliott Whitehead clear to set up Sykes and it began to look like a procession when a third quickly followed.

This time Ridyard missed an interception and Rikki Sheriffe broke clear down the right to cut inside and put veteran Menzies in.

The Centurions briefly stemmed the tide as Ridyard finally got lucky and picked off a Worrincy pass to score.

Normal service

Mick Nanyn converted but normal service was soon resumed as Andy Lynch broke a tackle and offloaded for Kearney to touch down and put the hosts 24-6 up at half-time.

Bradford claimed their fifth try within two minutes of the restart, as Kearney put Worrincy through a gap to score from close range.

Luck ran against Leigh as Maden attempted to grab a loose ball only for it to take an unfortunate deflection and hand Bradford a repeat set.

It was quickly spread wide for Nero to grab his second, but there was nothing lucky about the try that followed moments later.

Sheriffe did most of the damage as he broke clear from halfway and handed Menzies a simple finish under the posts.

Nero completed his hat-trick just after the hour when he broke through from 10 metres out and Godwin went over for another straight from the kick-off.

Outclassed

Leigh were being outclassed but their travelling fans kept faith and were rewarded when Donlan found his way over for a consolation out wide.

Hall went over for Bradford's 10th late on - adding the goal himself with Sykes off the field - but there was still time for one more converted Leigh consolation score from Armitstead.