Gloucester brought Lesley Vainikolo from rugby league to bring physical presence and tryscoring prowess to their left wing. Five tries in his first competitive game of union, well, that would be nice. There were enough 13-code aficionados at Headingley Carnegie yesterday to appreciate that the impossible is always possible for the man dubbed “the Volcano”.

Those new to Vainikolo’s frequent eruptions rubbed their eyes in disbelief as the giant Tongan shredded the equally stunned Leeds Carnegie defence five times in a debut unprecedented in 11 Premiership seasons. His tally fell one short of the record six tries scored by Ryan Constable for Saracens against Bedford in 2000. “What can I say? I just thank the man up above for giving me the power and the strength,” he said.

The last of his 149 tries in 152 appearances for Bradford Bulls had come against Leeds Rhinos on the same ground in June. It was not as if the union boys at Headingley had not been forewarned. Tom Rock, his opposite number, got steamrollered as Vainikolo rumbled across in the 36th minute and the second half was a procession by the 28-year-old former New Zealand wing, who had sought advice from his four union-playing brothers before switching codes.

Iestyn Harris made a similar impact after leaving league in his first game for Cardiff Blues, but never quite repeated the same form. Vainikolo, on the other hand, looked to the manor born in the position. Like Jason Robinson, another wing, he brings special qualities.

Twice he yelled to Ryan Lamb to hoof the ball his way for tries number four and five after Rock had gone missing without a trace. Nor was it all showboating. He showed a neat kicking style and presented the ball intuitively in contact. Indeed, his work on the ground paved the way for Gloucester’s first tries, by James Simp-son-Daniel and Iain Balshaw, while Anthony Allen revelled in the room created by Vainikolo’s sheer presence. Having been burnt by Leicester’s big wings in last year’s final, the cherry-and-whites have the prolific tryscoring powerhouse that Dean Ryan, the head coach, deemed as essential.

“Lesley’s a massive addition and he brings a physical presence on the edges,” Ryan said. “There were one or two tries which probably anyone could have scored and others that were special Lesley efforts.”

Until Vainikolo got into his stride, Leeds were competitive and ambitious on their Premiership return as the lead alternated four times in the first 43 minutes. But the carnival atmosphere started to turn sour with the first-half departures of Alberto Di Bernardo, the fly half, who had converted Jon Dunbar’s sixth-minute try and landed three penalties, with a suspected broken hand, and Hendre Fourie, a forceful presence at open-side flanker before a bicep tear.

Leeds’s 19-18 lead at the break was wiped out by Lamb superbly slotting Allen into a gap. Rock grabbed a second try for Leeds, but the Lamb-Vainikolo partnership got into full swing with the league convert’s second and third tries and, by the end, Vainikolo’s tryscoring was like shelling peas.

Scorers: Leeds Carnegie: Tries: Dunbar (6min), Rock (48). Conversion: Di Bernardo. Penalty goals: Di Bernardo 3 (14, 23, 35), Brooks (40). Gloucester: Tries: Simpson-Daniel (3), Balshaw (27), Vainikolo 5 (36, 59, 66, 70, 79), Allen (43). Conversions: Lamb 3. Penalty goal: Lamb (33).

Scoring sequence (Leeds first): 0-5, 7-5, 10-5, 13-5, 13-10, 13-13, 16-13, 16-18, 19-18 (half-time), 19-25, 24-25, 24-30, 24-37, 24-42, 24-49.

Leeds Carnegie: J Goodridge (rep: L Hinton, 61); T Rock, J Hepworth, R Welding, T Biggs; A Di Bernardo (rep: J Brooks, 37), J Bedford; M Cusack, R Rawlinson (rep: J Parkes, 68), C Noon (rep: A Hopcroft, 44), S Hooper, K Myall, J Dunbar (rep: P Bouza, 58), H Fourie (rep: M Lock, 24), R Oakley.

Gloucester: I Balshaw; J Simpson-Daniel, L Lloyd, A Allen, L Vainikolo, above; R Lamb, M Prendergast; P Collazo, O Azam (rep: A Titterrell, 49), C Nieto (rep: C Califano, 75), J Pendlebury (rep: A Strokosch, 58), A Brown, P Buxton, A Hazell, L Narraway.

Referee: D Rose.

Attendance: 10,674.