Despite getting off to the best start possible, by rocketing up a twelve-point lead in the first ten minutes, the power and domination of the massive Wakefield pack proved too great for the younger and much lighter, Salford side, as the visitors took control just before half time, and then running in six, second half tries, to take the spoils.
The Red Devils, however, certainly started in the way they would have hoped, dominating possession with three back-to-back sets, and then finishing off by taking an early lead, courtesy of Esan Marsters’s try, as he skipped out of a tackle to go over to the right of the posts, in the third minute. Rowan Milnes added the extras, and the visitor must have been surprised to find themselves six points in arrears.
Nine minutes later, they must have been beginning to wonder whether this was going to be their night or not, when the Red Devils came up with the most incredible counter-attack imaginable, with a try they can only have dreamed of scoring. Jack Walker scooped up a loose ball from Nathan Connell’s thwarted attempt to secure it from Trinity’s end-of-set kick to his corner, and then, with Connell in close support, cut through a gap in the advancing Wakefield line to take play to the half way line, drawing in the fullback, before handing over to Connell to outpace the pursuing defenders and go over between the posts.
With Milnes’s second straight forward conversion, it looked as though the home side’s clever ball-handling might even cause an upset, but sadly, that was not to be. The visitors regrouped together behind the posts, and a visible change in their game took place, over the following ten minutes. Their next three sets of possession started in close proximity to their own try line, but finished, without repeat sets of any description, with play virtually on the Salford line; in fact the third of these in fact finished over the line in the hands of Atoni.
It was only tremendous defence, such as on 24 mins, when a magnificent gang tackle forced the Trinity ball-carrier into touch, which kept Salford in the lead, but two minutes later Hood caught out the home defence with a scoot from dummy half, and Lino added his second conversion.
So much of the game, now, was being played in the Salford thirty that the goal-line defence was being sorely tested, but still it held tight, even when the video referee was called in to adjudicate on a Wakefield try, following their end-of-set kick striking Louis Gorman on the head, and ricocheting to the visitors’ advantage.
If only they could have hung on and kept the scores level to half time, the second half might have unfolded rather differently, but in the dying seconds of the half Johnstone received the ball in space on the left wing, and had sufficient opportunity to come round and ground it between the posts to take a half-time lead of 12-18, with Lino’s conversion.
It took Wakefield the first ten minutes to improve upon that, during which time they had been denied a further try by the video referee, whilst, at the other end, Joe Mellor had been held up over the line, between the posts.
Tries on 51, 55, 59, 62, 67, and 69 mins, from Rodwell, Scott (3), Johnstone, and Rodwell – four of which Lino converted – took the score to 12-52, despite the never-say-die efforts of the Salford defence, which denied Trinity other possible scores, such as when Myers was tackled into touch with a try-saving tackle, on 61 mins.
It was, nevertheless, the Red Devils, who, when all looked completely lost, had the last word, with the final score of the game, from Man of the Match, Jack Walker, in the right corner – much to the jubilation of the Salford fans – following great work from Nene Macdonald and Nathan Connell.
MATCH FACTS:
Salford line-up: Jack Walker, Nathan Connell, Esan Marsters, Louix Gorman, Jack Darbyshire, Joe Mellor, Rowan Milnes, Justin Sangare, Sam Davis, Loghan Lewis, Tiaki Chan, Leon Ruan, Harvey Wilson
Interchanges: Nene Macdonald, Declan Murphy, Toby Warren, Isaac Shaw
Tries: Esan Masters, Nathan Connell, Jack Walker
Conversions: Milnes (2/3)
Wakefield line-up: Max Jowitt, Jayden Myers, Cameron Scott, Oliver Pratt, Tom Johnstone, Jake Trueman, Mason Lino, Mike Mcmeeken, Liam Hood, Caius Faatilil, Seth Nikotemo, Matty Storton, Jay Pitts
Interchanges: Ky Rodwell, Josh Griffin, Renouf Atoni, Harvey Smith
Tries: Renouf Atoni, Liam Hood, Tom Johnstone (2), Ky Rodwell, Cameron Scott (3), Harvey Smith
Conversions: Mason Lino (8/9)
HT: 12-18
Photo credit: Steve McCormick
