Salford show quality to end Hull challenge
SALFORD FLYING AS HULL COACH ADMITS HIS SIDE WERE SECOND BEST
SALFORD produced their best 80 minutes of the season to record a superb victory over Challenge Cup holders Hull FC.
After patchy performances in defeat to St Helens and Castleford over the last fortnight and in a week in which the club parted ways with one of their most potent attacking threats in the shape of Gareth O’Brien, the Red Devils demonstrated consistent quality in both attack and defence.
“For large parts of games that we’ve been playing, we’ve been in those games and been very competitive, if not dominating,” said coach Ian Watson.
“Against Saints, we beat ourselves. Against Cas, we beat ourselves. The one good thing that’s been pleasing over that time is we’ve been really strong defensively in certain sections. With our completion rate on the back of that today, I think that’s why we’ve ended up getting the win.”
In his favoured full-back position, Niall Evalds looked assured, perhaps boosted by the departure of O’Brien and the inference that the No.1 jersey will be his long-term.
He coped with several testing high kicks, with Hull coach Lee Radford admitting it had been a ploy from his side. “I asked for every kick to be a competition,” he revealed. “They’ve conceded more from kicks than anyone else [in Super League]. No issues with the result, we were second best.”
Another question posed by O’Brien’s departure - who would take on the goalkicking duties - was answered early on when Rob Lui took the tee to knock over a penalty a couple of minutes in and the halfback appeared to relish the extra responsibility he had.
“We’ve sat with Robbie this week,” Watson explained.
“Robbie wanted a real conscious mindset going into this game of how he wanted to play and what he wanted to do.
“It was time for Robbie to step up and lead. These are the times when halfbacks are judged - when the pressure is on, what you turn up with - and I think both halfbacks did a great job today.”
A knock-on at the play-the-ball handed cheap possession to the visitors 15 minutes in and Dean Hadley pounced on a short kick at the line to put Hull in front.
But whereas the errors have continued to come in previous weeks, this time Salford settled and completed sets consistently.
They got level on the stroke of half-time when Tyrone McCarthy offloaded in the tackle to Ben Nakubuwai and the big Fijian grabbed his first Red Devils try. They moved ahead soon on the hooter with another Lui penalty. A fantastic second-half break down the left from Greg Johnson was finished by Jack Littlejohn - also getting his first Salford score - and when Lui was being strongly encouraged by the crowd to go for a dropgoal, he took on the line instead and crashed over. When Hull’s short kick off failed to go the distance, the home side were straight back on the attack and Johnson put the game to bed when he finished after a miraculous offload from Junior Sa’u.
It was time for Robbie [Lui] to step up and lead. I think both halfbacks did a great job today Ian Watson