Saints hold off Salford to reach Grand Final
St Helens will play Leeds in the Grand Final after two tries in five minutes from secondrower Joe Batchelor helped the defending Super League champions to a 19-12 victory over Salford in a spellbinding semi-final at the Totally Wicked Stadium.
Saints held off a fightback from the Red Devils to earn a win that gives them the chance to send coach Kristian Woolf out on a high at Old Trafford next Saturday with an unprecedented fourth successive Grand Final victory. Woolf will be delighted with the way his side overcame the loss of Alex Walmsley, with Agnatius Paasi and Matty Lees stepping up to the plate.
Already without Brodie Croft, Salford were dealt another blow after only two minutes when Andy Ackers was forced out after an ill-timed tackle on full-back Jon Bennison which left him reeling.
Batchelor had already forced his way into England’s World Cup plans and provided a reminder of his form with the opening try, grounding Jonny Lomax’s grubber kick.
Lomax was also provider four minutes later, with a sweetly-executed short pass, to get the former York man over.
Tommy Makinson converted both tries for a 12-0 lead but Salford were given a helping hand on 23 minutes when loose forward Morgan Knowles went too far with a dangerous tackle on Chris Atkin and was sent to the sin bin.
The Red Devils took advantage of the extra man as Kallum Watkins went through a gap for a try, which Marc Sneyd goaled.
Lomax put two scores between the teams with a drop goal on the stroke of half-time, when Saints led 13-6.
The champions had a try disallowed early in the second half and that gave Salford all the encouragement they needed.
Slick handling got winger Joe Burgess into space and full-back Ryan Brierley finished off with his 12th try of the campaign.
Sneyd’s second goal brought the visitors to within a point and skipper Elijah Taylor thought he had put them in front on 65 minutes only to have a try disallowed.
Then Saints came up with the decisive score. Lomax, with a clever kick, created the try from Bennison.
Makinson’s third goal made it 19-12 but the winger was then sin-binned five minutes from time for obstruction.
Salford fans screamed for a penalty try but Paul Rowley’s men had to settle for a penalty and 12-man Saints saw out the win.