Salford Red Devils’ 2024 campaign came to an end at the hands of Leigh Leopards in tonight’s playoff Eliminator.
It was a fierce, end-to-end battle with defences on top for the most part, but it was the visitors who made their chances count from a flurry of second-half tries.
Head Coach, Paul Rowley was able to recall all of his regular starters for this one, with Brad Singleton set to make his 300th career appearance.
Salford began with a solid opening defensive set, but lost valuable territory when Nene Macdonald was penalised for holding down.
What followed was a series of incredible efforts to deny the visitors the first try of the evening. Tim Lafai nailed his one-on-one tackle with Frankie Halton, with Deon Cross producing an equally impressive effort to force a Lachlan Lam knock-on.
Going down the other end, a series of penalties gave the Reds a big chance to capitalise just metres out from the Leopards line.
That pressure almost turned into points, but Darnell McIntosh managed to beat Cross in the air to squirm away from a testing chip into the corner.
On the half-hour mark, a mix-up on the Leopards line saw Chris Hankinson touch down, but the on-field call of no try was confirmed by the video referee, with Macdonald knocking on when challenging for the ball.
However, there was an infringement spotted by the referee in the build-up and Sneyd was able to nudge over the opening two points from the kicking tee.
A highlight of the first-half was an incredible defensive effort from Joe Mellor, Sam Stone and Lafai, who powered the Leopards ball carrier behind for a drop-out with a minute left on the clock.
The second forty quickly descended into a similar pattern to the first, with both teams going set-for-set in their attacking play without making much headway upfield.
It was the visitors who had the first real spell of attacking pressure and a few drop-outs later, Ethan Ryan dived on a loose ball to clean-up Lam’s floated pass.
Our resistance was finally ended on 53 minutes when Ricky Leutele took advantage of the spare man to send Josh Charnley diving over in the left corner.
A couple of minutes later, Edwin Ipape – selected by Sky Sports as the Player of the Match – burst through the line to create the numbers and send Gareth O’Brien over for another try.
It felt like that was a killer blow for the Reds, who fell further behind when Ipape spun away from a few challenges to score himself.
The hosts attempted to rally and took advantage of the spare man when Jack Hughes was sent to the sin bin – Ryan scoring in the right corner – but Sneyd’s missed conversion signalled game over.
Despite defeat, Rowley and his men will look back on the 2024 campaign with fond memories and will no doubt be hungry to go one step further in 2025.
MATCH FACTS:
Salford line-up: Chris Hankinson, Ethan Ryan, Nene Macdonald, Deon Cross, Jayden Nikorima, Marc Sneyd, Brad Singleton, Joe Mellor, Gil Dudson, Sam Stonet, Kallum Watkins, Oliver Partington.
Interchanges: Joe Shorrocks, Loghan Lewis Ryan Brierley, Shane Wright.
Tries: Ethan Ryan.
Conversions: Marc Sneyd (1/2)
Leigh line-up: Matt Moylan, Darnell McIntosh, Umyla Hanley, Ricky Leutele, Josh Charnley, Gareth O’Brien, Lachlan Lam, Tom Amone, Edwin Ipape, Robbie Mulhern, Frankie Halton, Jack Hughes, John Asiata.
Interchanges: Zak Hardaker, Owen Trout, Brad Dwyer, Aaron Pene.
Tries: Josh Charnley, Gareth O’Brien.
Conversions: Matt Moylan (1/2).
HT: 2-0
Photo credit: Steve McCormick & James Giblin.
