Steve McNamara rejoiced departing Lesley Vainikolo's unique talent after his stunning hat-trick helped Bulls return to winning ways.

Giant Vainikolo, who will switch codes to join Gloucester in July, delivered a thunderous performance in today's 44-18 success over error-ridden Harlequins.

The Volcano exploded twice in the first half with trademark finishes, rampaging over hapless winger Tony Clubb to give fans a reminder of what they will be missing when the Kiwi heads to union.

"Les came up with two tries nobody else could have scored," said McNamara.

"They were special plays. We're going to miss him - any side would do - but hopefully we've found a replacement with Tame Tupou coming across next week."

Vainikolo's double saw Bradford build-up a 22-0 interval lead that left the Londoners buried.

He completed his treble in the 66th minute as the hosts, still missing key men, put behind them successive Super League defeats to Leeds and Huddersfield.

After a scrappy game at rain-lashed Grattan Stadium, McNamara added: "It's been a tough week for us again and, particularly with the conditions, it was not a spectacular win by any stretch.

"But we did it in a fairly methodical way and we've still got a part-time player, Richie Hawkyard, running around for us so we're fairly pleased."

Plasterer Hawkyard brought the house down at Odsal when he completed the eight-try win, darting over for a fine effort on his home debut.

Other tries went to Joe Vagana, Glenn Morrison, Paul Deacon and Ian Henderson but they conceded three soft scores after the re-start.

"We spoke at half-time about having zero next to our name and could we continue in that vain," said McNamara.

"We've not done it for a while. We gave away a couple of scrappy tries but to get through the game with no new injuries, pick up two points and score 40 odd we've got to be happy." Harlequins' boss Brian McDermott claimed referee Gareth Hewer had been swayed in his decision-making by Bradford's vociferous fans.

"There was a call for dissent in the 47th minute which was a little bit of intimidation," he said. "If a team's 22-0 down and you can't vent a bit of frustration - there was nothing abusive said - well, maybe you shouldn't be in that arena.

"But it's not the reason we lost, we lost because we were just woeful with the ball."

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