Salford Red Devils walked out 28-0 winners over Huddersfield Giants in the Betfred Super League play-off eliminator. It was a comprehensive victory at The John Smith’s Stadium that sets them up for a meeting with St Helen’s in the semi-final. 80 minutes separate these players from a return to Old Trafford in the Grand Final.
Knockout rugby can go one of two ways. Either the teams and players freeze in the sudden death scenario, or they hit the ground running. Thankfully this play-off eliminator clash fell into the latter category. Andy Ackers went flying through early, winning a penalty in the process. Marc Sneyd converted to give the Red Devils a very early lead.
The Giants spent the early stages firmly on the backfoot. They struggled to deal with a crossfield kick on Salford’s last pass and Joe Burgess hoovered up the ball, going over at the corner. Sneyd converted to keep the momentum.
A marauding Brodie Croft run carved Huddersfield open and created the ideal opportunity for Kallum Watkins. The centre latched onto the offload and ran in unopposed to increase the advantage. Sneyd added the two not long before he was called into duty again. He would put another two on the board with a penalty shortly after the kick-off.
Ryan Brierley found himself sin-binned for a professional foul on Tui Lolohea. The offence sparked a mass pull-apart between the two sides, with Chris Hill grabbing hold of Jack Ormondroyd. That pairing were also given a talking-to from the official before matters calmed.
There was a further bruising moment in this play-off battle when Brodie Croft incurred a head injury under a Huddersfield challenge. Croft went off bleeding while Danny Levi left the field nursing an angle injury from executing the tackle.
The second half saw the Red Devils pick up where they left off. Sneyd fed a tidy ball through with his feet and Brierley was there to meet it for the try. The kicking game of Salford had unpicked Huddersfield all afternoon long and once again former Red Devils coach Ian Watson had seen his Giants undone with the method. Sneyd stuck the conversion between the posts and the scoreline read 22-0.
Having taken an almost insurmountable lead, Salford demonstrated immense defensive capabilities too. Huddersfield struggled mightily to break them down with little success. Joe Burgess broke up a Tony King offload to Leroy Cudjoe. Ken Sio shut down Huddersfield's Ricky Leutele as he tried to go to ground for a Giants opener. Wherever Huddersfield popped up, Salford were there to stop them scoring.
Salford hadn’t stopped scoring though, and gave their travelling support one more big try to cheer before the final whistle. Andy Ackers broke through and offered up a superb dummy before taking advantage of the space to cross over. Sneyd made no mistake to close proceedings with the conversion.
Aside from the comprehensive nature of the victory, the big talking point will be Brodie Croft’s availability. He failed a head injury assessment and was not able to continue. Salford Red Devils fans will be nervously awaiting further news on how much of a part he can play in their remaining campaign.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com
