Volcano eruption too much for Quins

It was the Lesley Vainikolo

show at Odsal as the Bulls

kept up the pressure on the

two sides above them in

Super League by beating Harlequins 44 - 18

The big New Zealand

winger, on his way to rugby

union and Gloucester in

July, helped himself to a hat-trick

of tries to take his total

to 147 in 148 games. It give

the 10,000 crowd something

to cheer about in a boring,

one-sided game.

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But the man they call The

Volcano will be the first to

admit he got a little help on

the way, with the Quins

defence failing to move up

quickly enough when he got

possession for his first and

third tries. The middle

touchdown came seconds

after referee Gareth Hewer

missed a glaring knock-on

by Vainikolo’s team-mate

Glenn Morrison.

The other highlight for

Bulls fans was the top-class

show by 18-year-old prop

Sam Burgess, who exuded

class in the way he created

tries for Paul Deacon and

Morrison on either side of

the interval.

Bulls coach Steve

McNamara said: ‘Sam came

up with a couple of special

plays. He has a great future.

But if we’re talking about

something special then what

about big Lesley? He scores

tries no other player could.’

What upset McNamara

was his side conceded three

late tries to Jon Wells, Chad

Randall and Paul Sykes.

Joe Vagana, Ian Henderson

and Richie Hawkyard scored

the home side’s other tries.

Quins boss Brian McDermott

praised his team’s

defence, even though they

conceded eight tries. ‘I

thought we were very good

defensively but we were

woeful with the ball. That’s

why we lost,’ he said.

The game was only a contest

for 13 minutes. When

Vainikolo crossed for the first

time, the outcome was never

in doubt. Not once in the

first 40 minutes did the

Quins break through Bradford’s

first line of defence.

The second half was much

the same, with the home side

taking their points tally to 34

before easing up to allow the

Londoners those three

consolation touchdowns.

The win puts Bradford

level on points with secondplaced

St Helens, two adrift

of Super League leaders

Leeds.