Rugby League: Super League: Leeds 14 - 38 Bradford

Lesley Vainikolo took his leave of the Super League in fitting style last night, with his 149th try in 152 appearances for Bradford and far more importantly, a win against Leeds. The Bulls had not beaten their fierce local rivals in four derbies since Steve McNamara succeeded Brian Noble as coach last season, but surfed the emotion of their Tongan cult hero's farewell to record a memorable triumph in front of a 22,000 Headingley sell-out.

Vainikolo signed off for his move to rugby union with the sort of powerful performance that has made him one of the Super League's best imports, but was the first to acknowledge that Bradford had heroes everywhere in a performance that confirmed the club is set fair to thrive even without him.

Vainikolo had been stewing for a fortnight about his failure to score in his last appearance at Odsal, and it took him less than nine minutes to make amends. It was a suitably spectacular eruption by a player who has been known as Volcano since an Australian commentator mispronounced his name, as he collected Terry Newton's pass 40 meters out and shrugged off both Brent Webb and Jamie Peacock on a powerful rumble down the left touchline.

As if wanting to send Vainikolo off in style was not motivation enough for Bradford, this was also their first chance to put right the perceived wrongs of their meeting with Leeds in Cardiff last month, when controversial decisions allowed the Rhinos to purloin a 42-38 win. That explained the near-manic enthusiasm with which they started, and after more flashes of brilliance from their big wing, Paul Deacon extended the lead to 8-0 by adding a penalty to his conversion.

Leeds finally started to come to terms with the pace of the game midway through the first half, and cut their deficit when Matt Diskin caught Nathan McAvoy napping from acting half. But the Bulls stretched 10 points ahead five minutes before half-time when James Evans capitalized on casual Leeds defense to touch down Deacon's high kick, with the scrum-half curling over another conversion.

Vainikolo remained the key figure even when Leeds scored a second try, as Kevin Sinfield's perfect long pass lured him slightly out of position to allow his opposite number Lee Smith to cross.

Despite Bradford's dominance of the first half, the Rhinos could have been level had Danny McGuire not been denied a try for a forward pass eight minutes after the break. Instead Tame Tupou, the younger but equally monstrous wing Bradford have signed from Brisbane as Vainikolo's replacement, powered in at the corner with his first touch to give him a fourth try in three appearances off the bench.

The nip and tuck continued as Rob Burrow sent Brent Webb sidestepping over to bring Leeds within six again, only for Bradford's hard-working prop Andy Lynch to struggle over between the posts.

After suffering last-gasp defeats in each of their previous two meetings with Leeds, Bradford could not afford to relax even with a 12-point lead. But they made the game safe in the 62nd minute as the Rhinos squandered possession with a sloppy scrum move and Glenn Morrison pounced on the loose ball to make them pay.

Leeds Rhinos Webb; Donald, Toopi, Senior, Smith; McGuire, Burrow; Bailey, Diskin, Peacock, Jones-Buchanan, Ellis, Sinfield. Interchange Leuluai, Thackray, Kirke, Tansey.

Bradford Bulls Platt; St Hilaire, McAvoy, Evans, Vainikolo; Solomona, Deacon; Vagana, Newton, Lynch, McKenna, Langley, Morrison. Interchange Henderson, Burgess, Tupou, James.

Referee P Bentham (Warrington).