Salford stand up and send out a defiant message
A BUMPER crowd responded to Salford owner Marwan Koukash’s magnificent gesture to open the turnstiles in exchange for donations to the We Love Manchester fund – and witnessed another scintillating performance from the Red Devils.
A wide range of Super League clubs were represented by supporters at the AJ Bell, while a minute’s silence was held prior to kick off in honour of the 22 killed in the Manchester Arena attack.
And the home side responded as they dismantled an under-strength Catalans Dragons side.
“It was important we did that to mark the occasion really,” said Red Devils coach Ian Watson. “We’ve spoke a bit through the week, all the players and the guys around the club, that it was important we showed the best Salford.”
After some even opening exchanges, Remi Casty caught Gareth O’Brien in the act of kicking. Referee Robert Hicks seemed unmoved, but the roar of disapproval from the stands saw a penalty given and after discussion with his touch judges, Hicks sent Casty to the sin bin. From the resulting penalty, O’Brien touched down.
Recent arrival James Hasson was also sent to the sin bin just 15 minutes into his Salford debut for a high tackle on Tony Gigot, but by that time, Josh Jones had crashed over on the back of some non-stop offloading to keep the ball alive on the last tackle.
A remarkably poignant moment would follow soon after, with Kris Welham - the Red Devils’ number 22 - crossing for a try right as the clock ticked into the 22nd minute, kick-starting a rapturous round of applause and accompanying ‘stand up for the 22’ chant around the AJ Bell Stadium.
With the home side offloading at will, the Dragons found themselves really struggling to restrict their forward movement. A Niall Evalds break to score down the left was soon followed by a Ryan Lannon try through the middle and the Red Devils picked up exactly where they left off after half-time too, Kriss Brining fending off four would-be tacklers to score next to the posts within two minutes of the restart.
Catalans earned themselves some field position for pretty much the first time in the match when ex-Salford scrum-half Richie Myler kicked a superb 40/20 and capitalised to break their duck through Vincent Duport. But then Lui intercepted a tap back from Iain Thornley and raced 90m to score. There was still time for late tries from Olsi Krasniqi, Mark Flanagan and a consolation for Fouad Yaha.