Salford Red Devils were beaten by Catalans Dragons 10–36 at the The Salford Stadium in Round 9 of the Betfred Super League this afternoon.
Against the team second place in the league, Paul Rowley’s men showed glimpses of promise, but the opposition took their chances when they were presented.
It was a flying start by the Red Devils, with a period of intense pressure forcing multiple six-again’s on the Catalans line. Shortly after, a neat grubber kick from Ryan Brierley allowed Deon Cross to dive over on the right and open the scoring.
The visitors responded shortly after when Salford were penalised for a high tackle on their own goal-line. From the restart, Catalans worked the ball left and Matthieu Laguerre was the spare man to stroll over – Arthur Mourgue levelling the scores.
The French outfit quickly took the lead when Tom Davies found space after some quick passing on the right.
Rowley rang the changes to try and bounce back, with Kallum Watkins making a welcome return from injury, 326 days after his last appearances for the Red Devils.
Sam Kasiano kept the ball alive for Catalans just past the half-hour mark, but it was Mourgue who was the architect of the visitor’s try, skipping past a few Salford bodies before offloading to Mitchell Pearce to go over.
Salford were building pressure just before half-time after Joe Chan was sent to the sin bin for a professional foul. A further penalty just before the hooter forced Sneyd to attempt the two, but his effort sailed just right of the sticks.
Half-time: Salford Red Devils 6-18 Catalans Dragons
The visitors scored again just after the break, with Matt Whitley intercepting 10 metres from the Salford try-line and powering over.
Catalans extended the lead minutes later when Micky Mcllorum sent a grubber kick in behind the Salford defence for Kasiano to gather and touch down.
The hosts were back on the scoresheet when Marc Sneyd sent a neat kick over the Catalans defence. Brierley gathered the ball and send a kick of his own into the right corner for Ken Sio to gather and score his 12th Betfred Super League try of the campaign.
Just before full-time, Pearce received the ball and rolled the Salford challenges to add to the Catalans total.
Full-time: Salford Red Devils 10–36 Catalans Dragons
Salford: Brierley, Sio, Costello, Cross, Williams, Croft, Sneyd, Akauola, Ackers, Ormondroyd, Addy, Taylor (C), Luckley, Vuniyayawa, Atkin, Johnson, Watkins.
Catalans: Mourgue, Davies, May, Laguerre, Yaha, Pearce, Drinkwater, Napa, Mcilorum, Goudemand, Whitley, Chan, Garcia, Da Costa, Seguier, Dezaria, Kasiano.
Salford tries: Cross (4’), Sio (65’)
Catalans tries: Laguerre (9’), Davies (18’), Pearce (33’, 78’), Whitley (46’), Kasiano (54’)
Salford goals: Sneyd (1/1), Atkin (0/1)
Catalans goals: Mourgue (6/6)
Salford penalty-goal: Sneyd (0/1)
Catalans penalty-goal: Mourgue (0/1)
Written by: Harry Siddall
Image credit: Steve McCormick
