St Helens have defeated Salford Red Devils 19-12 to send them to their 14th Super League Grand Final, facing Leeds Rhinos next Saturday.
Heading into this clash, Salford were without key man Brodie Croft, who failed a head injury assessment in Salford’s play-off eliminator victory over Huddersfield. St Helens were reeling on the back of news that prop forward Alex Walmesley would miss the rest of the season as well as being out for the upcoming World Cup.
Within the first two minutes, Salford hooker Andy Ackers felt the full force of Saints academy product Jon Bennison. In came his replacement, Amir Borough, who featured heavily in Salford’s last game at the Totally Wicked Stadium. It was later confirmed that Ackers will miss the rest of the season, after failing a head injury assessment.
The game plan from the reigning champions was clear. Run hard and tackle harder, making sure to keep the Red Devils pinned back in their own half, forcing Marc Sneyd to kick from deep and playing with the highest intensity possible to force an opening. In the eighth minute, it looked like that opening had beared fruit, with Joe Batchelor sprinting to get on the end of a Jonny Lomax grubber, but didn’t quite manage to get the ball down in time, with the ball ended up being planted on the whitewash.
Kristian Woolf’s final home game was always going to have explosive power and intelligent plays, something that he’s instilled into his side ever since his arrival in Super League back in 2020. The first points of the game came with the same play from St Helens that nearly got them on the board earlier. On the 12th minute, Lomax found Batchelor with another grubber through the Salford line, this time there was little doubt that the try would be given. Tommy Makinson easily kicked the two extra points to give Saints a 6-0 lead.
Saints’ dynamic duo struck again around four minutes later, with Batchelor getting his tenth try of the season, assisted by Lomax with a close pass on the Salford try-line. The Red Devils were notably looking fatigued in comparison to the Saints, a worrying sign as the Saints looked yet to reach their highest gear. Makinson converted once again from the byline to make it 12-0.
Salford’s first attempt at the tryline was hampered by Morgan Knowles, who appeared to hold Chris Atkin’s arm up at a dangerous angle during a tackle, in more of an MMA move than rubgy league. A ten-minute sin bin was in order and Salford struck while the iron was hot. Against 12 men, Kallum Watkins and Atkin linked up to sneak their way over the line, and Salford earn themselves a lifeline. Sneyd easily converted to turn the scoreline over to 12-6 after 25 minutes.
The last action of the first half saw Lomax attempt a one-point drop goal, that looked to miss at first but the touch judges were on hand to confirm that it had made it between the sticks, to send Saints into the dressing room leading 13-6.
The second half shared the same ferocity as the first, with Saints managing to get four attacking sets to Salford’s one from the bat, thanks to handling errors and pressure from Saints leading to goal-line drop outs.
Salford have made a signature out of making tries from seemingly nothing, and today saw the same. Lomax attempted to kick on last tackle for Saints, but the ball went wide for Salford, Joe Burgess had a free wing to run at, passed it to his fullback Ryan Brierley to beat the defending Jack Welsby, and Salford reduced the lead to just a single point with twenty minutes left on the clock. For context, Salford hadn’t won a game away at St Helens in 42 years and a win would take them to just their second Grand Final in their history.
It all seemed in vain, as 19-year-old Bennison got on the end of another Lomax grubber through the Salford defensive line. The ball bounced up nicely for the young winger, with the Red Devils defenders perhaps thinking it would’ve bounced into touch and not chasing as much as they could’ve. Makinson made it three from four in terms of kicking, and their seven point lead was restored.
Incredibly, Makinson was then sent to the sin-bin for pulling Tim Lafai as he looked to be through for a try from a Sneyd kick. Salford fans will be aggrieved that a penalty try wasn’t granted by referee Chris Kendall. A cynical manoeuvre from a veteran winger that looked to have sealed the win for St Helens.
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Matty Lees and Ken Sio collided unfortunately with just four minutes left on the clock, with Sio visibly unconscious after what looked like a flying shin to the head. Salford had been unlucky throughout the postseason, with the aforementioned Croft, Andy Ackers and now Sio falling to unfortunate injuries.
The full-time hooter sounded around the Totally Wicked Stadium, and Woolf’s men continue their streak of four Grand Final appearances in a row, defeating Salford by 19 points to 12. Woolf has the chance to become the first head coach to win three Super League Grand Finals in a row, but Leeds also have the chance of matching their record as being the lowest placed team to win a Grand Final. Either way, history will be made next Saturday night!
