Salford Red Devils bounced back from opening day defeat to
beat St Helens 44-10 in the First Utility Super League.
Ian Watson’s side were beaten 42-20 last week away at Hull
FC
but they got their revenge by easing past the Saints in impressive fashion.
The Red Devils looked motivated from kick-off and made a
whirlwind start with three tries in the first 11 minutes, taking full advantage
of two handling errors from St Helens full-back Jack Owens.
Quick thinking from scrum-half Michael Dobson got winger
Greg Johnson over for the first, prop Craig Kopczak, one of eight players
making their home debuts, muscled his way over from close range and the
impressive Lui demonstrated his dancing feet to go over straight from a scrum
for his first touchdown.
Josh Griffin and Dobson made it 18-0 between them with the
conversions and that prompted a dressing down behind the posts from an animated
former St Helens skipper Paul Wellens, now on the club's backroom staff.
The introduction of prop Alex Walmsley breathed new life
into the lethargic visitors as he barged over for a try within two minutes of
entering the action and Luke Walsh's goal cut the deficit to 12 points.
Dobson, however, slotted a penalty goal midway through the
first half and the Saints defence collapsed in the last 10 minutes of the half
after Walsh was sent to the sin bin for preventing a quick play-the-ball.
As the Red Devils looked to exploit their numerical
advantage, former Castleford winger Justin Carney proved to be a real handful
with his familiar blockbusting runs that helped create further scores for
substitute Niall Evalds and Lui.
Any hope of a Saints fightback disappeared within two
minutes of the restart when a forward pass from Knowles put his side under
pressure and Salford forward Adam Walne punished the error by forcing his way
over for a seventh try.
Dobson then went on a solo run to make it 40-6 and, although
winger Adam Swift pulled a try back for the visitors, Evalds pounced on a
grubber kick from Lui to score his second and wrap up the scoring.
The resounding triumph came 12 months since Salford were
humiliated 52-6 in the corresponding fixture at the AJ Bell Stadium, a result
that prompted the infamous tweet from owner Marwan Koukash saying he had
"had enough".
Koukash left well before the final whistle on that occasion
but he stayed for the full match this time, celebrating every try in ecstatic
fashion from the touchline.
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