Lesley Vainikolo enjoyed a fairytale ending to his glorious engage Super League career as Bradford Bulls cruised to victory over Leeds Rhinos in front of their rivals’ own supporters.

The giant Tongan wing was making his final engage Super League appearance before switching codes and joining Guinness Premiership outfit Gloucester next week.

And he signed off from the 13-man sport in the most auspicious manner possible, producing a brilliant opening try in the ninth minute which laid the platform for a famous Bradford success.

It was Vainikolo’s 149th touchdown in 152nd appearance for the Bulls, his 15th against Leeds and certainly one of the most memorable by the man known as the Volcano.

But, if it was Vainikolo who provided the early inspiration, then his team-mates clearly heeded the message by running in a further five tries to secure a fully-deserved success, while scrum-half Paul Deacon kept the scoreboard ticking over with six conversions and a penalty goal.

For Bradford the win went some way towards erasing the pain of their defeat to Leeds in Cardiff during the Millennium Magic weekend in May.

It also gave Vainikolo a dream send-off before he heads for Kingsholm next week.

That the former Canberra Raiders wing’s final engage Super League outing should end at Headingley was apt - he is scheduled to begin his rugby union career there when Gloucester make an opening-day trip to Leeds Carnegie in September.

In truth, there was never any prospect of him bowing out of engage Super League quietly – not with vital derby honours at stake and around 20,000 Rhinos fans baying for blood.

There was a certain inevitability about Vainikolo seizing centre stage and he served up a classic opening score which showed precisely why Gloucester handed him a lucrative three-year contract.

There seemed little danger when Vainikolo edged in from the left flank to collect a neat short offload from hooker Terry Newton.

Vainikolo swiftly advanced forward, mercilessly sweeping aside Brent Webb with an awesome hand-off before showing even greater strength to swat aside the challenge of former Bulls team-mate Jamie Peacock.

That took Vainikolo clear and he gleefully raced over the line in the left corner before taking the acclaim of his team-mates.

Vainikolo dovetailed with centre James Evans increasingly effectively as the half wore on and the pair almost contrived to send Jamie Langley over the whitewash, only for Lee Smith to make a crucial last-ditch tackle.

A Deacon penalty midway through the half extended Bradford’s lead but soon after Matt Diskin powered his way over from acting-half, only for Kevin Sinfield to miss the attempted goal.

Leeds lacked guile in attack and with Bradford looking more dangerous it came as no surprise when Deacon’s flighted kick was caught and grounded by Evans in the left corner in the 35th minute.

Deacon added the extras again but a delightful array of inter-passing between Diskin, Rob Burrow and Sinfield sent Smith over the line moments before the half-time whistle.

Sinfield again failed to convert and when Danny McGuire had a try disallowed Bradford sensed it was their night.

They crossed again when Newton, Ian Henderson and Nathan McAvoy worked the ball out wide for Tame Tupou – the man brought to the club as Vainikolo’s successor - to burrow over in the right corner.

Deacon’s flawless kicking edged Bradford 20-8 ahead but Burrow sent Webb bustling over the line from close range shortly before the hour mark.

Sinfield added the extras but Andy Lynch again exposed Leeds’ defensive frailties and loose forward Glenn Morrison went over, with Marcus St Hilaire rubbing further salt in their wounds with a late try under the posts - before Deacon maintained his 100 per cent record with the boot.