Salford 52 Huddersfield 24 Match Report
The sheer size and physical dominance of the Salford Red Devils’ Reserve side proved to be the decisive factor in their win over the Huddersfield Giants, last Saturday, getting the afternoon’s Double Header off to a most impressive start.
It is not often that we see a Salford side – enhanced by the inclusions of Ben Helliwell and Cade Cust – out-muscling their opponents, but this was very much the case with the home side dwarfing the visiting Yorkshire side throughout the encounter.
It was not only their physicality, however, which was responsible for their victory. Far from it, in fact, because you don’t run up fifty-two points just by trying to steam-roller your way through the opposition’s ranks. It takes considerably more than that in terms of skill, speed of thought, discipline, execution and adherence to the game plan. Physical prowess just makes those things that bit easier to apply.
After this had been established in the opening forays, it was hooker, Jon Openshaw, who opened the scoring on 7 minutes, when he supported a break to go over for the first of a hat-trick of tries. Indeed, the former Salford, Academy youngster, who has since had spells at both Swinton and Rochdale, clearly has an eye for such opportunities, with the other two, on 30 and 63 mins, coming in similar fashion.
A move covering over 60ms and involving a great break down the left flank was turned into a try scoring opportunity when fullback, Nathan Connell, worked a scissors move to cross on the right. Jack Gatcliffe’s first of eight successful conversions took the score to 10-0.
A lengthy spell of Huddersfield pressure was eventually broken, on 22 mins, when they moved the ball out wide to the left, to score an unconverted try from an overlap.
Once the Red Devils had negated this with Openshaw’s second, though, the floodgates opened, with Cole Appleby going over, four minutes later, to bring a half time score of 22-4. Sadly, he was later to limp off with a recurrence of a knee injury from which he had been making his comeback.
When you have done all your hard work in the first half, the rewards can come thick and fast in the second, and four converted tries in the first twenty-three minutes of the second, rocketed the Reds into a 46-4 lead.
The first, on 47 mins, came from a great offload in a tackle from Charlie Glover to prop, Jordan Brown, who went through under the posts.
Their forcing of a goal-line drop-out, ten minutes later, then gave them an extra set of possession, which Connell then concluded with a jinking run through for a try under the posts to take the score to 34-4, the individualism of which was then, to some extent, replicated by Finley Yates, a not irregular scorer for the Red Devils.
Charlie McCurry it was, who provided Openshaw with his hat-trick, but then the game changed quite dramatically. When this last score was answered with a second unconverted try, three minutes later, few people thought anything about it, but when their eight points became twelve, then eighteen, and finally twenty-four, all spaced within a mere two or three minutes only of each other, one or two hearts might well have begun to flutter with still six minutes left to play.
Fear not, however, as the home side were able to come up with possession from the final restart and Bardyel-Wells gave Salford the final say.
Coach, Stuart Wilkinson, was justifiably delighted with the performance which had brought Salford back-to-back wins:
“We have been doing much better of late as the finer weather has enabled us to train together more effectively, and we are looking much more impressive as a team, now. The power and size of our forwards was a crucial contributary factor, and our second rowers, Charlie McCurry and John Hutchings, were especially so.
“John Openshaw is fantastic at finishing off breaks, and it is a joy to watch Billy Glover in the centre. The ability and willingness of Finley Yates to play in any position, is a great asset to us, but it was such a disappointment to see Core Appleby sustain yet another injury.
“Being so comfortably ahead, around seventy minutes, was new territory to us, and we lacked the experience of then knowing how to finish off the opposition completely, but we still finished the game with one final score.”
“The players absolutely loved being a part of the Double Header and playing in front of the crowd on the main pitch. We have played at other stadia during the season but to turn out on our own was really special and inspired them all to lift their game to greater heights.”
SALFORD
Nathan Connell, Joe Coop-Franklin, Josh Wagstaffe, Billy Glover, Ethan Fitzgerald, Cade Cust, Jack Gatcliffe, Leunbou Bardyel Wells, Jonathan Openshaw, Jordan Brown, Charlie McCurry, John Hutchings, Ben Hellewell
Interchanges:
Kieran Tyrer, Finley Yates, Charlie Glover, Cole Appleby
18th Player: Lucas Coan
