Bradford threatened to pull off an upset after casting aside their dismal form to make a sensational start against engage Super League leaders St Helens.

Left winger Semi Tadulala scored two tries in the first 10 minutes and the Bulls had two other tries disallowed by the video referee as they made a mockery of their recent results to race into a 10-0 lead against an out-of-sorts Saints side.

The Bulls then suffered a major blow when the influential David Solomona went off midway through the first half with another shoulder injury and St Helens struck back with five tries in a remarkable 10-minute spell to turn the game on its head and take a comfortable lead into the break.

Yet St Helens looked anything but champions-elect in the first quarter as an enthusiastic Bradford harried them into a series of uncharacteristic errors.

Their lack of co-ordination was amply illustrated when they lost 50 metres while trying to keep the ball alive on the last tackle.

With morale at a low ebb following a 58-22 home defeat by Warrington, Bradford got the confidence boost they sorely needed and they took full advantage.

Solomona produced a telling kick for Tadulala to grab his first try after just two minutes and then combined with centre Michael Platt to get the Fijian over for a second, with Paul Sykes adding one conversion.

The small Bradford following could hardly believe their eyes and it could have been even better had video referee Ian Smith not ruled out further scores by Sam Burgess and Steve Menzies following high kicks from scrum-half Ben Jeffries.

The loss of Solomona, just three games back from a dislocated shoulder, clearly affected Bradford, who also sent on new signing Julien Rinaldi for his debut after 25 minutes.

After being unable to do little right for the first 25 minutes, Saints suddenly put their game together in bewildering fashion.

Smart passing from Leon Pryce, Paul Wellens and Lee Gilmour enabled right winger Ade Gardner to get the scoreboard ticking over and left winger Francis Meli produced a strong finish at the other corner just two minutes later.

Sean Long failed with both conversion attempts but Saints went in front after 30 minutes when former Bradford favourite Pryce, who was free to play after avoiding a prison sentence from his court appearance on Thursday, twisted and turned in the tackle to touch down near the posts for his 10th try of the season.

It was all one-way traffic now and Bradford were powerless to prevent substitute Gary Wheeler finishing off another sparkling handling move before James Roby broke clear to create a second try for Meli.

Bradford were able to re-group at half-time and a couple of errors from the home side enabled them to set up camp inside the St Helens half.

And the Yorkshiremen threatened a fightback when substitute prop Craig Kopczak crashed over from close range after 49 minutes to score his first try for the club on his 34th appearance.

Sykes' second goal cut the gap to 10 points but normal service was quickly resumed when Saints ran the ball on the last tackle and Long raced onto Wheeler's speculative kick to touch down and make it 30-16.