BACK TO WINNING WAYS
Salford 34 Catalans 22 Match Report – David Clegg
Salford Red Devils got back to winning ways on Friday evening with this rather more comprehensive victory than the score would suggest. Salford’s dominance in the first half was more than evident from their 22-4 half time lead, which was secured, in part, thanks to a vastly improved attacking performance.
From their very first set of possession, the Devils showed that they had learned much from the two tough encounters against Leeds and Wigan, with a marked increase in the speed of their handling, which was both fast and slick. As a result they were able to outflank the Catalans defence which, on a number of occasions, had difficulty in covering across in time to cut out the Salford attack.
Alongside this was the sheer variety of plays, coupled with variations thereof, all of which were executed with telling efficiency. Kevin Locke’s second try on 28 mins came as a result of a build up which was absolutely out of the top drawer, as the final pass completely reversed the line of attack, as had been the case for Junior Sa’u thirteen minutes earlier.
The pass of the match, however, was the one from substitute, Jason Walton (left), to Niall Evalds, which completely beat the whole of the Catalans defensive structure, giving the left winger a clear run to the line.
Man of the match, Rangi Chase (above), was at the heart of virtually everything that went well for the Red Devils, and he was a constant thorn in the Frenchmen’s side, not only with those ploys which brought tries, but a fair few which just failed to do so. The most memorable of these came on 17 mins, when after a quite fruitless set of six, in which the Devils were held well inside their own half, instead of putting in the long kick everybody, including the Dragons’ defence, expected, he used a short chip and catch, drew the fullback, before following up with a wonderfully judged raking kick to the corner for left winger, Niall Evalds, who was unlucky to be prevented from scoring by the bounce of the ball and his opposite winger.
Defensively, too, Salford were completely clinical in the way in which they dealt with the pressure they were put under in the first half, and the coaching staff will have been pleased with the way that structures were adhere to, and stood up to the Catalans attack.
In the second half, as tiredness set in, the Red Devils were to be thankful for the covering back of two significantly contrasting players. Mason Caton-Brown’s speed has been a great asset with his scoring of four tries in his first three games, but it was his 50m chase back on 70 mins which for a short time provided a little respite for the Devils, which stood out on Friday.
Far more remarkable, though, had been the earlier speedy trek back by skipper, Adrian Morley (above right), to overtake and tackle centre, Pomeroy, on the break, thereby snuffing out a possible long distance try. On this evidence, he looks capable of playing into his forties!
A bright start, in which the Devils built up good attacking field position through three back to back sets, was promptly undone by two handling errors, which enabled the visitors to mount their first attack, and following a mix up in the in-goal area, Evalds failed to take a high kick and Oldfield opened the scoring for Catalans, on 5 mins, from the subsequent goal-line drop-out.
Unlike in the last home game the Salford players responded well to this setback, and mounted pressure of their own. Another goal-line drop-out, this time by the French, gave the Devils further possession, and Chase’s well directed pass, behind the initial attacking line, found the advancing Kevin Locke (above), who squirmed out of tackles to ground towards the left hand corner, and then add the conversion to gain the lead at 6-4, on ten mins.
Five minutes later Salford scored their second try from the unlikeliest of positions – direct from a scrum. Seldom, if ever does one see such, these days, but Chase’s reversing of the line of attack put Junior Sa’u through to give Locke a straight forward successful conversion.
Having been unlucky not to have scored on 17 mins, Evalds was once more prevented from scoring four minutes later, this time by good Catalans defence, after he had collected a high, attacking Salford kick.
The Devils were becoming rampant by this time, and it was only a matter of four further minutes before, as a result of the Dragons losing possession and then conceding a penalty, Salford moved the ball swiftly along the line from left to right, until, that is, it came to Matty Ashurst who immediately turned it back inside to the advancing Kevin Locke, who shot through the bewildered defence to score under the post, and, with his conversion, take the score to 18-4.
Jason Walton’s strong forward run, two minutes from the interval, followed by his perfectly timed and directed pass to Niall Evalds, cutting out Caton-Brown, gave the winger sufficient time and room to race in at the corner, although Locke was to pull this conversion wide.
The second half was a much more closely contested affair, as the Dragons regrouped over half time and served notice of their intent with a converted try from Mounis, after only four minutes.
Once again Salford’s response was impressive, and two tries on 49 and 59 mins made the game safe. Excellent work from first Chase, who ran along the French line, and then Steve Rapira (above right) who cut through the gap before offloading in the tackle to the supporting Theo Fages, for his score under the posts. Chase took over goal-kicking duties for the second half and had no difficulty with either.
Ten minutes later, and three consecutive sets as a consequence of a French hand touching the ball in flight, followed by their conceding another penalty, and Tony Puletua (right) charged over between the posts to put the home side in what was to prove an unassailable 34-10 lead, although signs of tiredness and perhaps a little laxness enabled Duport, on 71 mins, and Henderson, on 78 mins, to cross for tries, converted by Bosch.
