WHAT WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR

Salford 46  Bradford 18                          Match Report – David Clegg

rangi_chaseIt may have been a long time in coming, though we always knew that they had it in them, which is what has made the earlier part of the season so frustrating for fans, players and coaching staff alike, but on Sunday the Red Devils really turned on the style to demolish the Bradford Bulls by 46 points to 18.  Indeed the fact that they conceded as many as 18 points  was the most surprising part of the whole game, so dominant were the Red Devils, throughout.

Right from the very outset they took control of the game limiting the Bulls’ yardage, and then responding with a display of fast, free-flowing, open rugby which simply tore the Bradford defence to shreds, notching 18 points, though three back to back tries, in a five minute spell, which commenced as early as the second minute, when Logan Tomkins (below left) scooted over for the opening try by the left post.

Two minutes later, the Salford fans must have been rubbing their eyes in delight at the long range thriller which culminated in the first of Junior Sa’u's scores.  A break by Hock started the roll, with the supporting Evalds taking his pass and continuing the charge upfield, before feeding Sa’u for the completion.

logan tomkinsWithin three minutes of that score, Chase regathered his short kick through, and the ball was moved over to the right, where Andrew Dixon (below left) crossed.  Chase’s third conversion of the afternoon virtually put the home side out of sight, with 63 minutes of the game still to play.

Bradford really had no answer to the speed, accuracy, and clinicality of the Devils’ attack, and on 14 mins, Man of the Match, Rangi Chase (above), who finished with a brace of tries and seven goals, delighted the crowd with the most outrageous of dummies to streak through from 40m to the posts to bring the score to 24-0.  The only try he failed to convert was his second, on 25 mins.  This one came as a result of his own towering kick which completely confounded poor Lee Gaskell, and the advancing army of Reds included Rangi, who was first there to ground in the corner.  On this occasion, his conversion attempt struck the upright.

JUNIOR SAUTheir final try of the half came on 35 mins, when a Bradford handling error saw Sa’u (right) scoop up the loose ball to romp in from 30m, behind the post for his second score, to bring the Devils to 34 points.  This, however, was a Super League side they were up against, and Super League sides, in general, do not roll over,despite their misfortunes.  The Bulls were far from prepared to do so. This was the side which had previously beaten Warrington in their league game a few weeks previously, and they had already crossed for a try on 22 mins to bring the score, then, to 24-6.  This time they responded with another try, at the end of the half, in a similar position to their first, on their right edge, both coming as a result of Salford players failing to get across in sufficient numbers, and both converted.

Whilst the second half may have been just as fast as the first, it certainly lacked the accuracy in, and was far from as clinical in, the execution they had shown in the first forty.  Errors abounded, and this, together with a number of penalties, turned the match into a somewhat stop-start affair.  The game was, in fact, approaching the last quarter before another score came, and when it did it came to Bradford,

andrew_dixonNot to be outdone, however, the Red Devils dug a little deeper, and took the game further away from the visitors, with a typical Francis Meli try in the corner, on 26 minutes, before Sa’u, who must  have been Chase’s closest rival for Man of the Match, repaid the supporting Niall Evalds with a similar pass to the one he himself had received from Evalds earlier, to give the fullback his score under the posts, ten minutes from the end.

After such an entertaining, yet vital, win, it would be somewhat churlish to be overcritical of the Devils’ errors, numerous as they were, for it was in their attempts to be entertaining and score even more tries that they succumbed to over adventurous, and occasionally over flamboyant play, which led to their losing the ball, on each occasion.  That is a far cry from a side turning over possession in frustration at its own lack of ideas.  So yes, let us congratulate the lads on the victory, and at the same time credit them with the style in which they delivered it.