A birthday gift for jubilant Lui
HALF-BACK HAILS RED DEVILS’ COMEBACK WIN
SALFORD fans and players alike were rightly jubilant following Sunday’s comeback victory over Hull KR at Craven Park, but one player had more reason than most to celebrate.
Rob Lui was instrumental in the turnaround and crossed for a try – all on his 29th birthday.
The half-back was pleased to mark the occasion with a fourpointer, especially after his side trailed 22-8 at the break and looked set for back-to-back Betfred Super League defeats.
“It was a tale of two halves, eh?” said Lui, who has enjoyed several strong showings against Hull KR in recent years.
“We started off very poor and we didn’t complete, but that’s the thing about rugby league – there’s two halves to a game and we knew if we could hold the ball, we’d come home with a wet sail.
“It was just errors, if you give teams the ball close to our line, they’re going to score tries.
“We turned it around second half, I don’t think we made an error after coming back out.
“We got to the end of our sets, we got to the kick and once we got control, I thought that me, Jacko [Hastings] and Niall [Evalds] were all on the same page.”
The Red Devils kept the Robins scoreless in the second 40 minutes on the way to a 24-22 win and this was the fourth half in which Ian Watson’s side have done so this season, after the first against Huddersfield and the two versus London. It’s a record that pleases Lui.
He said: “We know all the best teams, the ones that have won the comp, they might not be the best attacking teams in the comp, but they’re the best defence.
“That’s what we want to aim for. If we focus on our D, our attack will come – that’s just natural to us.
“We’ve got a simple gameplan. We know that in our team we’ve got good forwards that go forward and poke their nose through, and then me and Jacko can go off that.
“If they don’t go forward, me and Jacko can’t do a thing, so credit to the boys, they worked hard.”
Salford have now won three from four, but are taking nothing for granted, especially with unbeaten St Helens arriving at the AJ Bell Stadium on Thursday.
“It’s a good start,” admitted Lui. “We’re taking them in blocks of five, so we’ve got a tough game at home to St Helens, but we want to change it around because of Leeds at home. We owe it to our fans.
“Watto will come up with a gameplan and we’ve just got to trust the process.
“We know that no matter who plays, St Helens is a tough team, but we just need to step up at home.”