CAS SMARTING DUE TO MARTIN WAT A TEAM!
Inu and Ian have real staying power
LEEDS CASTLEFORD
RHYSE MARTIN finally killed off 12- man Tigers to boost Leeds’ hopes of making the play- offs but the Challenge Cup winners had to dig deep.
Liam Watts lit the touch paper to an explosive first half when he charged over in the opening few minutes.
Ava Seumanufagai barged past four ou Cas players p aye to pull the home side level but tempers were starting sta to boil.
Cas paid the price when Oliver Holmes stupidly kicked out at Richie Myler to get his marching orders.
W When Luke Gale scored to put pu Leeds 12- 6 ahead, it looked like the writing was on the wall for Tigers. Instead, the 12 men rose to the challenge, with Greg Eden scoring either side of half- time.
Cas then pulled off an amazing five last- gasp try- saving tackles in 10 minutes but the pressure finally told with Liam Sutcliffe and Tom Briscoe scoring to snatch back the lead back for Leeds. Martin ( above) then came up with the killer blow before Chase Blair got a consolation penalty try.
IAN WATSON confirmed he will be staying at Salford after seeing Krisnan Inu’s late try snatch victory over the leaders at Headingley.
The highly- rated Red Devils coach admitted he had had talks with Hull FC over the last few days but said: “With the timing and everything else, and Covid, it is probably just not right at the moment. It’s not going any further.”
Watson, who is contracted at Salford for the next two years, got the perfect thank- you response from his players.
But they left it very late against a rookie St Helens side that included five kids on debut and a number of others making their first start.
Watson said: “We knew they would come with enthusiasm and work really hard and we just had to match that.
“Early doors we made way too many errors but I am so proud of the group.
“We only had 16 fit players and Oli Roberts played with broken ribs.”
Saints raced into a third- minute lead with a try from hooker Josh Eaves, who was making his first start.
Teenager Lewis Dodd, another firsttime starter, added the conversion and then kicked two twopenalties penalties for a 10- 10 0 lead. lead Salford were making a host of mistakes but hauled themselves back into the game with a barnstorming try from Pauli Pauli on the stroke of half- time.
Saints again started the stronger but the youngsters were left to rue some crucial errors. Tom Nisbet had a try disallowed when he failed to ground the ball properly, even though there was nobody near him.
Their other debutant winger Nico Rizzelli also came up with a costly error that led to Inu’s stunner. And with just seconds to go young centre Josh Simm was denied a winner by a tremendous try- saving tackle from Dan Sarginson.
It was the Salford full- back’s first game since a positive Covid test ruled him out of the Challenge Cup Final.
He said: “I’ve struggled at training because I’ve been out for 10 days but it’s good to be back.”
Saints coach Kristian Woolf said: “I thought the kids did a great job. For 75 minutes they did everything right but a lot of them will learn lessons from those final few minutes when they hurt us.”