A magnificent defensive display, for the first six minutes of last Saturday’s home encounter with the Catalans Dragons, was crucial in enabling the Red Devils to take the initiative and set themselves up for a vital win which puts them in an encouraging fourth spot, with two rounds still to play.
Two touches-in-flight, a set-restart, and one goal-line drop-out, all combined to give the visitors a plethora of possession of six sets, after they had thwarted Salford’s surprise, short kick-off, to set up camp on the Red Devils’ line, but not only were the Reds equal to the challenge, they began to look comfortable in their task of keeping their line intact. It almost appeared like a signal of submission especially after all their endeavours had come to naught, when the Dragons opted to take a kick at goal following a penalty for a high tackle.
It was, in fact, 7mins 18secs, before Salford first touched the ball when Ryan Brierley collected it from a Dragons’ end-of-set kick. The turmoil that ensued, 45 secs later, in the Catalans’ ranks, from Marc Sneyd’s equivalent end-of-set high bomb, was incredible as two of them collided at the point of catching, thus spilling it towards Joe Mellor, whose quick thinking, on recovery of possession, put Ryan Brierley in the clear, before he, in turn, fed Jayden Nikorima for the opening try, between the posts.
It would be difficult to think of a more demoralising turn of events for the Dragons, especially after their inability to make all that early pressure pay, and they must have been feeling it very deeply whilst Marc Sneyd was teeing up his successful, straightforward conversion.
Nevertheless, the game then settled down into a real war of attrition, as both sides engaged in an arm wrestle which set-for-set, lasted for almost half an hour, punctuated by two further scores. The one significant factor, though, was, that whilst it appeared to be very much a mid-field battle, it was Salford who, throughout, had the dominant field position,
If the opening try had come out of the blue, so too did the other two of the half, with first the visitors transitioning from defence into attack superbly, when Smith struggled to take another, teasing, Sneyd bomb, but his fumbling caused the Salford defence to overrun, thereby giving him a clear run into the Reds half. One tackle later, the Dragons drew level.
Equally surprising, was the way the elusive Mellor, on 37 mins – thanks to the benefits of a goal-line drop-out, a penalty for a head tackle on Ethan Ryan, and a strong carry by Brierley – completely wrong footed what, to then, had been a seemingly watertight defence, with a scoot, five metres out from the line, to score under the posts, without a finger being laid upon him, to give the Reds a 12-6 half-time lead.
They say that you earn the win in the first half, and enjoy running in the points during the second, and this could certainly be said to be true of Salford, on this occasion. Led by Man of the Match, Marc Sneyd, the scrum half just took total control of the game with his end-of-set kicks and kicks at goal, his shrewd, high-quality passing, organisational skills, game management, and starting, on 47 mins, with a great 40-20.
The restart from this then saw the ball moved from right to left, with his telling, final pass putting Tim Lafai over to double their lead.
Five minutes later, the eighteen points became twenty, when he added a penalty goal, and six minutes after that, he and Lafai again combined for the centre to put Deon Cross in at the corner from one of those Lafai, one-handed specials. Goal kicks from the touchline, as we all know, are seemingly no more problematic than those in front of the posts for Sneyd, judging by the ease with which he slotted over this conversion, bringing the score to 26-6.
Eighteen-point leads are seldom regarded as irreversible, but those of twenty are rather more so, especially in a game in which defences had been so dominant as in this. Catalans’ introduction of Tomkins, though, did sharpen up their attack, and it was his pass that put them through for the final try of the afternoon but there was no panic in the Salford ranks, with Sneyd concluding the scoring with a well-taken drop-goal, and then eating up the remaining minute with an attempted fifty metre penalty kick at goal.
Next Saturday, the Red Devils’ visit to Hull could well see them securely ensconced in the top six playoffs. The vociferous support of the travelling faithful, however, will be much appreciated on the day, as no trip into Yorkshire can ever be taken lightly.
