Following upon two closely fought tussles, earlier in the season, and with honours shared equally between the two sides at one game each, on Saturday last, the Red Devils welcomed the second visit this season of the Castleford Tigers, for what could be regarded as a decider between the two sides.
The context of this game, however, could not have been in starker contrast to that of the previous two, which had seen the Tigers languishing near the foot of the table in search of a first win, whereas this encounter came on the back of their wins over top six sides, St Helens and Catalans Dragons.
No surprise, therefore, that this latest clash unfolded in quite similar manner to the previous two, with the game, and scoreboard, fluctuating from one side to the other, though, Salford, it was, who dominated for the greater periods of the game.
Indeed, taking all the pointers into account, they should have won somewhat more convincingly than the final score would indicate, with their dominating possession, field position, and virtually all other match statistics, such as hit-ups, completion rates and tackling effectiveness.
The one area where the visitors excelled themselves, however, was, despite the fact that they had more missed tackles than their hosts, their goal-line defence was impeccable, as they stood up to wave after wave of Salford pressure on their line, in two lengthy periods at the start of each half, without conceding a point in either. They also knew how to counter-attack, following each of those with tries at the other end of the field to put themselves in front, on both occasions.
In fairness, though, the Red Devils’ own defence matched them, but at the opposite end of the field, showing excellent line speed, to pen Cas down in their own twenty on a number of occasions.
One most pleasing aspect of the Red Devils’ performance, and one which has shown marked improvement over the season, was their discipline. Not only did they concede fewer penalties than Castleford, they also retained a full complement of players on the field for the full eighty minutes, whereas the opposition was reduced to twelve men for a full twenty minutes – a quarter of the game.
It is no coincidence that three of Salford’s tries came in those two periods, and with Marc Sneyd’s, once again, one hundred percent goal-kicking performance ensuring maximum return from each. Although there was rather more to it than just that, Ryan Brierley’s showed just how difficult it is to defend your line with five of your players tied up in a scrum.
Ethan Ryan’s sixtieth minute, 70m interception try proved to be the crucial turning point, with his most intuitive positioning in the Cas line ensuring that their pass came to him, only. His fleet of foot was then put to best use as he outpaced both Hoy and Innes to get to the line.
When Man of the Match, Oli Partington, stretched the lead to eight points, five minutes later, the Red Devils were in the strongest position they had been all match, and celebrated with the outstanding try of the match, started by Brierley, continued by Tim Lafai, and completed by Chris Hankinson with his first touch of the ball, seconds after having come onto the field.
It had not been until the 24th minute that the Reds had opened their account, despite some earlier very close calls on the left flank. When it came it was from the power and determination of Nene Macdonald, whose contribution to the remainder of the half included being held up over the line three minutes later, and having a second grounding overruled by the video referee two minutes after that. He even managed an interception of his own in the second half, on 52 mins, but did not have the pace to make it to the line.
If the coaching staff had been hoping for a closely fought encounter, in order to keep the team up to speed, ahead of next week’s significant home fixture against Leeds, they will have been well pleased that this is what they got. We will have to wait a few days, however, to see how this is reflected in next week’s performance.
