Salford Red Devils made it five wins from their last six Betfred Super League games, with a dominating 44-12 victory over St. Helens at the The Salford Stadium this afternoon.
Paul Rowley’s side entered the fixture off the back of two great performances against Catalans Dragons and Toulouse Olympique, and were aiming to maintain their position in the top six with a vital two points against the league leaders.
A dominant start to the game from Salford really gave them a grip of the contest as Saints, who were keen to improve on their performance against Wakefield Trinity in the previous round, struggled to deal with the Reds’ attacking flair and continued pressure.
The pressure paid off for Salford in the 12th minute, with Sitaleki Akauola crashing over to the left of the sticks to score the first try of the match.
Three minutes later, Rowley’s Reds scored again and it was that man Tim Lafai at the centre of the action. Player of the Match Lafai performed his trademark no-look pass to Joe Burgess, who dived over acrobatically in the left corner.
Salford struck for the third time inside the first 20 minutes. Lafai offloaded to Burgess who then broke 30 metres down the left flank and fed the supporting Dan Sarginson, who finished the job and marked his return to the team with a try.
In the 26th minute, Brodie Croft sent a beautifully executed pass out to Ken Sio on the right wing, who then cut back inside and picked out Kallum Watkins for a simple slide over the try-line.
Five minutes before half-time, in-form Burgess broke down the left again and turned on the pace, leaving the chasing Saints players behind to slide over to double his try tally for the afternoon.
Half-time: Salford Red Devils 26-0 St. Helens
Like the first forty, it took 12 minutes of the second for Salford to find Saints’ try-line after a period of constant pressure on the Saints defence. Greg Burke crashed over under the posts to extend Salford’s lead.
Just before the hour-mark, Saints finally got themselves on the scoreboard thanks to an individual effort from Jack Welsby, despite Croft’s heroic efforts to try and keep the fullback out.
It seemed that Lafai has been teaching Burgess his trademark no-look pass, when the high-flying winger pulled off an insane attempt in the 64th minute to keep the ball in play and inevitably spark another Salford try. The ball is quickly moved from left to right and finds the hands of Croft, who sets up Watkins to stroll over for his second four-pointer of the game.
Five minutes later, Salford demonstrated their counter-attacking skill with arguably the best try we will see this season. The attack started with Sio on his own try-line, who scooped up a Welsby grubber kick and found Sarginson. The centre weaved past two Saints players before finding Lafai, who then skipped past at least five opposition jerseys to find Croft. Our number 6 used his pace to cover 30 metres and slide over to cap off a stunning collective effort.
Four minutes before the final hooter, Alex Walmsley scored for the visitors to the right of the sticks, using his strength to muscle his way through.
Salford are now just two points off 5th and look to next week and the trip to Leeds Rhinos, with Rowley’s men looking to make it three from three against the Rhinos this season. Join Salford at Emerald Headingley next Sunday and purchase your ticket HERE.
Full-time: Salford Red Devils 44-12 St. Helens
