Salford Red Devils climbed back into the top six with a 34-4 victory over London Broncos this afternoon.
After a slow first forty, Paul Rowley’s side produced a much-improved second-half performance, with Marc Sneyd notching four try assists.
With Ryan Brierley missing, Chris Hankinson stepped into the fullback position, with Nathan Connell making his Red Devils and Betfred Super League debut off the interchange bench.
Errors from both sides in the opening 20 minutes meant the game failed to settle into any real pattern. In fact, the story of the first forty was left with the video referee.
Sneyd spotted a gap in the Broncos defence and sent a kick towards the onrushing Nene Macdonald, who plucked the ball out of the sky and crashed over to the line.
However, the on-field referee gave no try for offside – confirmed after a long deliberation by the video referee.
A second no try was then given in the space of five minutes. London sent a cross-field kick over to the right edge and a small fumble in the air allowed Oli Leyland to get a second kick away for Lee Kershaw to pick up and score.
Again, the video referee agreed with the on-field call of offside.
A third decision was sent upstairs when London’s Marcus Stock took a strong carry through Chris Hankinson and thought he’d crossed the try line.
But like the two previous, a no try call was confirmed.
The breakthrough finally came on 34 minutes when a strong line from Sam Stone was met by a lovely short pass by Joe Mellor to send the back-rower bundling over.
Sneyd tagged on the extras and Salford went into the break with a six-point lead.
Nine minutes in the second-half, Salford were back on the break and rampaging up the field. Tim Lafai made a brilliant 20 metre break, putting the Broncos firmly on the back foot.
It’s wasn’t long later that Sneyd sent a exceptional, pinpoint chip over to winger, Deon Cross, who strolled over in the left corner for our second of the afternoon.
Lafai was at it again from the restart, bashing through the middle of the park. This time the Samoan had Nene Macdonald in support to finish off the try.
Points were flowing at this stage and and Sneyd was the architect of Salford’s next try, skidding a grubber off the surface for Lafai to ground.
Smooth hands from Brad Singleton sent Shane Wright through moments later. He drew the last defender and popped the ball to Sneyd, who was ankle-tapped by Alex Walker, but managed to pop the ball back out to Wright for his first of the season.
Sneyd secured try assist number four with a carbon copy of Lafai’s last try, cutting back inside and stabbing a grubber for the Samoan to slam down with his left hand.
London did strike late on after repeat penalties. Hakim Miloudi found space on the left wing to crash over, but it was only a mere consolation and the Red Devils claimed a valuable two points.
MATCH FACTS:
Salford line-up: Chris Hankinson, Ethan Ryan, Nene Macdonald, Tim Lafai, Deon Cross, Chris Atkin, Marc Sneyd, Brad Singleton, Joe Shorrocks, Shane Wright, Sam Stone, Kallum Watkins, Ollie Partington.
Interchanges: Nathan Connell, Joe Mellor, Matty Foster, Gil Dudson.
Tries: Sam Stone, Deon Cross, Nene Macdonald, Tim Lafai (2), Shane Wright.
Conversions: Marc Sneyd (5/6)
London Broncos line-up: Alex Walker, Lee Kershaw, Robbie Storey, Jarred Bassett, Hakim Miloudi, Oli Leyland, James Meadows, Lewis Bienek, Sam Davis, Rhys Kennedy, Will Lovell, Sadiq Adebiyi, Jacob Jones.
Interchanges: Rob Butler, Marcus Stock, Jordan Williams, Ugo Tison
Tries: Hakim Miloudi.
Conversions: Oli Leyland (0/1)
HT: 6-0
Photo credit: Steve McCormick & James Giblin
