| Stunning Vainikolo hits Leeds for five |
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| At a Glance |
Pos
| Team
| Pl
| Pts
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| 1 | Gloucester Rugby | 1 | 5 |
| 2 | Newcastle Falcons | 1 | 5 |
| 3 | Bath Rugby | 1 | 5 |
| 4 | Harlequins | 1 | 5 |
| 5 | Leicester Tigers | 1 | 4 |
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| Other results |
| Bath | 29 - 15 | Worcester |
| | Quins | 35 - 27 | L Irish |
| | Wasps | 19 - 29 | Saracens |
| | Bristol | 13 - 26 | Tigers |
| | Falcons | 33 - 12 | Sharks |
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| SO THAT’S what all the fuss was about. Lesley Vainikolo announced himself on an unsuspecting Guinness Premiership with a debut record five tries as Gloucester ran riot against Leeds at Headingley. |
It would be wrong to claim the victory was based solely on Vainikolo’s finishing qualities because he offers far more than that. His mere presence had plenty to do with the vitality in Gloucester’s movement game. He was such a threat that it created space for the likes of the brilliantly elusive Anthony Allen, drew attention away from the James Simpson-Daniel and Iain Balshaw and generally provided an outlet and a finishing power that was truly frightening.
Although Gloucester were far from certain in defence, their attacking instincts and threat from deep was something to behold and when Leeds started to run out of gas with 30 minutes remaining, Vainikolo came into his own - bagging five of Gloucester's eight tries.
His first try illustrated perfectly why head coach Dean Ryan signed him. Gloucester were trailing 16-13 when they scored from a re-start.
Olivier Azam flung a long pass into midfield, Leon Lloyd and Balshaw combined and with a minimum amount of room against the touchline, Vainikolo thundered through Tom Rock and had enough momentum to reach the line. It was a chilling message of intent and was a classic illustration of what he is capable of.
There are plenty of other wingers who can do what happened thereafter but the first score was pure Vainikolo and it was a crucial score because Leeds were very effective in the opening half, despite a nightmare start.
Simpson-Daniel scored in the second minute when Ryan Lamb and Lloyd dragged possession to the right and Simpson-Daniel scooped up Lloyd’s long pass to dot down.
But it was far from easy for the visitors. Leeds went ahead with a soft try down the short side when Jon Dunbar beat Pete Buxton, Mike Prendergast and Balshaw down the narrow side of a ruck to hand Leeds the lead. And through the efforts of scrum-half Joe Bedford and the expert kicking of Alberto Di Bernardo, Leeds made the most of Gloucester’s indiscipline at the contact area and a stream of basic errors that denied them much momentum in the opening period.
Defensively at least, it was a far from polished performance and when Andy Hazell was pinged for off-side after 14 minutes, Di Bernardo made it 10-5 and then 13-5 as the locals dared to hope of an opening day win in front of their biggest first day crowd ever.
What Leeds didn’t have was the ability to move the ball like Gloucester or a set-piece to give them a starting point. Patrice Collazo and Carlos Nieto got right into it at scrum-time, the line-out was a ding-dong battle throughout and as time wore on, Gloucester turned over plenty of ball through the expert scavenging of Hazell and then Alasdair Strokcosch.
They reduced the deficit to 13-10 after 27 minutes when Lamb, typically busy but also prone to the odd head rush moment, sent a long pass towards Balshaw on the right and the full-back finished coolly.
There was still time for Leeds to regain the lead before the break with another Di Bernardo penalty before Vainikolo’s lethal incision four minutes before half-time.
The second half was only four minutes old when Leeds were caught in the headlights of another Gloucester score – a brilliant one from Allen. After Lamb had kicked a penalty to the corner and Gloucester had driven over the ball, Lamb sent Allen weaving through a hole to score by the sticks and hand Gloucester a 19-25 lead.
But Leeds kept coming. Former Gloucester full-back Jon Goodridge helped set up a score for Rock when he combined with Richard Welding to bring the teams to within a point again.
However, the last 20 minutes belonged to one man as the Volcano erupted. From turn-over ball, Allen carried brilliantly into heavy traffic, Lamb and Luke Narraway took play on further and Vainikolo scored in the corner from Narraway’s long pass.
His hat-trick came after 66 minutes and again it was from a turnover. Hazell led the charge against a disorganised defence and with Simpson-Daniel and Balshaw in support, Vainikolo had enough leg speed and power to surge home. Leeds were shellshocked and out on their feet, despite the magnificence of their effort. Vainikolo grabbed his fourth when Lamb spotted him lurking all alone on the touchline before he fielded a cross-field kick and touch down.
Gloucester’s rather wonky lead had now become a mammoth 42-24 advantage and still the big man had not finished. Again it was Lamb who kicked diagonally cross-field and Vainikolo gathered well, dummied brilliantly inside twice and set the seal on a remarkable Premiership debut.
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| Leeds Team |
15. Jon Goodridge 14. Tom Rock 13. Jonny Hepworth 12. Richard Welding 11. Tom Biggs 10. Alberto Di Bernardo 9. Joe Bedford 1. Michael Cusack 2. Rob Rawlinson 3. Colin Noon 4. Stuart Hooper 5. Kearnan Myall 6. Jon Dunbar 7. Hendre Fourie 8. Rhys Oakley
16. Adam Hopcroft 17. James Parkes 18. Pablo Bouza 19. Mark Lock 20. James Brooks 21. John Holtby 22. Leigh Hinton
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| Gloucester Rugby Team |
15. Iain Balshaw 14. James Simpson-Daniel 13. Leon Lloyd 12. Anthony Allen 11. Lesley Vainikolo 10. Ryan Lamb 9. Mike Prendergast 1. Patrice Collazo 2. Olivier Azam 3. Carlos Nieto 4. Jonathan Pendlebury 5. Alex Brown 6. Peter Buxton 7. Andy Hazell 8. Luke Narraway
16. Andy Titterrell 17. Christian Califano 18. Dan Tuohy 19. Alasdair Strokosch 20. Dave Lewis 21. Ludovic Mercier 22. Olly Morgan
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| Scorecard |
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| Name | Tries | Conv | Pen Kicks | Drop Goals | Total Points |
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| Leeds Carnegie |
| Jon Dunbar | 1 | | | | 5 |
| James Brooks | | | 1 | | 3 |
| Tom Rock | 1 | | | | 5 |
| Alberto Di Bernardo | | 1 | 3 | | 11 |
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| Total | 2 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 24 |
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| Gloucester Rugby |
| Iain Balshaw | 1 | | | | 5 |
| James Simpson-Daniel | 1 | | | | 5 |
| Ryan Lamb | | 3 | 1 | | 9 |
| Anthony Allen | 1 | | | | 5 |
| Lesley Vainikolo | 5 | | | | 25 |
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| Total | 8 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 49 |
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| First half timeline |
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| Minute | Team | Event | Player |
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| 4 | Gloucester Rugby | Try | J Simpson-Daniel |
| 6 | Leeds Carnegie | Try | J Dunbar |
| 6 | Leeds Carnegie | Conversion | A Di Bernardo |
| 14 | Leeds Carnegie | Penalty kick | A Di Bernardo |
| 23 | Leeds Carnegie | Penalty kick | A Di Bernardo |
| 23 | Leeds Carnegie | Substitution | M Lock on for H Fourie |
| 27 | Gloucester Rugby | Try | I Balshaw |
| 32 | Gloucester Rugby | Penalty kick | R Lamb |
| 34 | Leeds Carnegie | Penalty kick | A Di Bernardo |
| 36 | Gloucester Rugby | Try | L Vainikolo |
| 36 | Leeds Carnegie | Substitution | J Brooks on for A Di Bernardo |
| 40 | Leeds Carnegie | Penalty kick | J Brooks |
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| Second half timeline |
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| Minute | Team | Event | Player |
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| 44 | Gloucester Rugby | Try | A Allen |
| 44 | Gloucester Rugby | Conversion | R Lamb |
| 44 | Leeds Carnegie | Substitution | A Hopcroft on for C Noon |
| 49 | Leeds Carnegie | Try | T Rock |
| 51 | Gloucester Rugby | Substitution | A Titterrell on for O Azam |
| 58 | Leeds Carnegie | Substitution | P Bouza on for J Dunbar |
| 58 | Gloucester Rugby | Substitution | A Strokosch on for J Pendlebury |
| 60 | Gloucester Rugby | Try | L Vainikolo |
| 60 | Leeds Carnegie | Substitution | L Hinton on for J Goodridge |
| 66 | Gloucester Rugby | Try | L Vainikolo |
| 66 | Gloucester Rugby | Conversion | R Lamb |
| 69 | Leeds Carnegie | Substitution | J Parkes on for R Rawlinson |
| 70 | Gloucester Rugby | Try | L Vainikolo |
| 70 | Leeds Carnegie | Substitution | J Holtby on for J Hepworth |
| 75 | Gloucester Rugby | Substitution | C Califano on for C Nieto |
| 78 | Gloucester Rugby | Try | L Vainikolo |
| 78 | Gloucester Rugby | Conversion | R Lamb |
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