Another Sunday afternoon, another loss for the London Broncos, and another win for the Salford Red Devils as they retake their place in the top six which had been temporarily lost to the Leeds Rhinos yesterday teatime, or so all the pundits, fans, and bookmakers predicted.
Having made the journey to the AJ Bell Stadium, London were given a thirty-two-point start on the handicap coupon as a landslide victory was predicted for the Red Devils on a glorious afternoon in Salford.
A win for Salford would lift them back to sixth spot in the table, two clear of the Rhinos in seventh, a win of any type for the visitors would lift them off the bottom of the table and push Hull FC into the basement position.
It was a frustrating opening ? minutes for the Red Devils as they failed to breach the London defensive line. A Nene Macdonald try was ruled out for offside on fourteen minutes, and two minutes later Lee Kershaw had one ruled out for London when he collected a kick to the corner in an offside position.
Salford were making unforced errors, particularly in their positioning from open field kicks, and were displaying an unexpected nervousness about the game.
On twenty-seven Marcus Stock looked to have opened the London account but the referee called No Try due to a double movement and the video referee agreed that he’s grounded short and promoted the ball. It was becoming the game of disallowed tries.
After earning a penalty on thirty-three the scoreboard did get moving as Sam Stone took a Joe Mellor pass at first receiver and crashed over the line for the opening try. Marc Sneyd added the conversion to give the Red Devils a 6-0 lead which they carried to the interval.
Eight minutes after the restart Deon Cross collected a Sneyd cross field kick for a walk-in try to extend the Salford lead. Sneyd pushed his conversion across the front of the sticks, the Salford lead ten points.
Three minutes later and the Red Devils were in again with Tim Lafai breaking the line and running to ten short of the line before passing inside to his centre partner Macdonald who went in from ten metres to score. Sneyd added the conversion for 16-0, the game now looking beyond London.
A sixty-sixth minute try from Lafai, pouncing on a Sneyd grubber to take the ball and ground in a single movement. Sneyd added the conversion for 22-0.
London’s heads were down when Sneyd broke the line but was ankle tapped to ground before offloading to Shane Wright to go in for a simple try. Sneyd added the goal for 28-0, the game heading towards it’s expected scoreline.
Lafai’s second came of seventy-five as another Sneyd grubber unpicked the London defence allowing the centre to collect and ground with ease. Sneyd added the conversion for 34-0.
On the last play of the match, and on the final hooter, Hakim Miloudi got some reward for a string performance with a try to avoid the whitewash. Oli Layland was unable to add the touchline conversion, the final score a 34-4 win for Salford.
It was an underwhelming first forty from the Salford Red Devils but they made up for it with a scintillating second marshalled by Marc Sneyd who was deadly with the boot, finding his man on almost every occasion. Salford are back in the six, Leeds Rhinos unseated again and in the bottom half of the table. Salford won’t be totally happy with the game and their performance but will be happy with the points and their league position going into a week off for the Challenge Cup Final.
Saford Red Devils: Hankinson, Ryan, Macdonald (T), Lafai (2T), Cross (T), Atkin, Sneyd (5/6 G), Singleton, Shorrocks, Wright (T), Stone (T), Watkins, Partington. Subs: Foster, Cornell, Mellor, Dudson. 18th Man: Vuniyayawa.
London Broncos: Walker, Kershaw, Storey, Bassett, Miloudi (T), Leyland (0/1 G), Meadows, Bienek, Davis, Kennedy, Lovell, Adebiyi, Jones. Subs: Butler, Tison, Williams, Stock. 18th Man: Rourke.
Half-Time: 6-0.
Full-Time: 34-4.
Score Progression: 4-0, 6-0 : HT: 10-0, 14-0, 16-0, 20-0, 22-0, 26-0 28-0 ,32-0, 34-0, 34-4 :FT.
Lead Exchanges: Salford.
Referee: Liam Rush.
