A young Salford side fought hard but were unable to score against St Helens at the Totally Wicked Stadium, ending with an unfortunate 82-0.
The stadium was filled with a whopping 12,218 fans, over 1,000 of which had travelled to support the away team. Although a minority against the home side, the Red fans continuously flooded the pitch with noise in support for their young players.
Salford started off with a strong first five minutes, holding off Saints but unfortunately couldn’t keep them at bay for too long. After successfully holding up Matty Lees, Morgan Knowles was able to cross the whitewash.
This streak of bad luck continued as both Lewis Murphy and Tristan Sailor were able to ground the ball within the next 10 minutes, off the back of two line breaks.
Saints furthered their lead with a Tristan Sailor try and a third Mark Percival conversion. However, their next attempt was less fortunate as the Reds held them up over the try line.
Salford were unable to beat Saints in the chase to the right corner and Harry Robertson was able to ground the ball for their fifth try of the night.
Jack Gatcliffe brought his side some luck as his tackle won Salford the ball and they fought to get to the try line. While unable to score the try, they did force a goal line dropout by the Saints.
The Reds were again brought close to the Saints try line as Bardyel Wells’ quick hands win them the ball. Unfortunately, a knock on started a chain of Saints passes that gave Knowles his second try of the night.
Knowles wasn’t the only double try scorer of the first half as Robertson soon crossed the line again, leaving the half-time score at 38-0.
Saints kicked off the second half with the same energy as Kyle Feldt crossed in the far right corner, quickly followed by Jonny Lomax to the right of the sticks.
Carrying on ahead, Sailor added two more tries to his record for a Super League debut hat-trick.
Tensions rose as a scuffle broke out between the sides which seemed to knock the home side’s composure slightly as they began to let a couple mistakes slip through. Unfortunately the Reds were unable to take advantage of their opponent’s mistakes, although they did narrowly miss out on a try scoring opportunity.
Sailor’s hat-trick was taken one further as he surged across the whitewash yet again. He was soon joined by three new teammates on the scoresheet as Percival, Batchelor and Delaney grounded the ball in quick succession.
The Reds will now be looking ahead to next Saturday, where they hope for a better outcome against Leeds Rhinos at their home ground, Salford Community Stadium.
MATCH FACTS:
Salford XIII: Nathan Connell, Ethan Fitzgerald, Josh Wagstaffe, Lucas Coan, Sean Murray, Kai Morgan, Jack Gatcliffe, Bardyel Wells, Finley Yates, Harrison Hope, James Shields, John Hutchings, Logan Lagar
Interchanges: Joe Bullock, Ben Hellewell, Tiaki Chan
Tries:
Conversions:
Saints XIII: Jack Welsby, Kyle Feldt, Harry Robertson, Mark Percival, Lewis Murphy, Tristan Sailor, Jonny Lomax, Alex Walmsley, Daryl Clark, Matty Lees, Curtis Sironen, Joe Batchelor, Morgan Knowles
Interchanges: James Bell, Matt Whitley, Jake Wingfield, George Delaney
Tries: Knowles (2), Murphy, Sailor (4), Sironen, Robertson (2), Feldt, Lomax, Percival, Batchelor, Delaney
Conversions: Percival (11/15)
HT: 38-0
FT: 82-0
