SALFORD RED DEVILS 12 HULL KR 74
DAVID KUZIO, Salford Community Stadium, Thursday
REIGNING Man of Steel Mikey Lewis put in a performance worthy of winning that award yet again as Hull KR moved a step closer to clinching the League Leaders’ Shield.
Lewis had a direct hand in five of the Robins’ seven first-half tries, then set up three more and scored one himself in the second half.
Joe Burgess helped himself to four tries in a very comfortable win against inevitably outgunned Salford.
It’s the club’s joint-record Super League win (alongside a 68-6 win over Catalans just a month earlier) and their biggest on the road, plus the most points they’ve ever scored in a game in the competition.
Setting the tone, the Robins scored with their first real touch of the ball. After keeping Salford deep in their half on the first set, Arthur Mourgue returned a kick and offloaded to Tom Davies who weaved his way through to score.
And in their next set, they were over again with Jack Broadbent scoring after being sent free by Burgess.
Then Lewis took on the line before offloading to a rampaging Sausao Sue, converted by Arthur Mourgue for 0-14 after ten minutes.
Salford managed to stem the bleeding for a while and even scored the next try. Justin Sangaré forced his way over from close range after a neat ball from Joe Mellor and Kai Morgan converted.
Tyrone May must have said something out of turn as referee sent him to the sin bin before the game was restarted – not that it prevented Hull KR getting back on top.
The introduction of Jez Litten and Sam Luckley added a bit of a spark to their attack, and they went over for four more tries before the break with Lewis having a hand in them all.
First, Burgess collected a clever kick from Lewis after it looked like he had gone down a dark alley to score, while Rhyse Martin steamed onto a short pass from Lewis to race over (adding the conversion, his first of seven) before he took on the Red Devils defence and sent Litten racing away.
Lewis and Broadbent sent Burgess down the wing and he turned it back to Lewis who kept his composure to deliver another kick over for Burgess to grab his second, and it was 6-34 at half-time.
Burgess grabbed two more in the opening six minutes of the second half, both from the boot of Lewis – the first collecting a neat chip and the second off a high ball.
Martin converted both tries to take his personal Super League points tally past 1000.
The Robins hit the 50-point with Lewis going from provider to try-scorer, backing up a Peta Hiku break to race under the posts.
It looked like he had grabbed his second as Burgess broke clear and offloaded to his halfback, but Lewis unselfishly offloaded for Mourgue to score.
Davies grabbed his second in the corner, with Mourgue converting, but Salford refused to give up and earned a second try with Charlie Glover forcing his way over from close range. Morgan’s conversion made it 12-64.
Hull KR had the final say with two late tries as Martin, breaking through a very tired Salford defence, and Litten got their second tries.
GAMESTAR: Mikey Lewis was unplayable all game. He set up eight tries and scored one himself in a sublime all-round performance.
GAMEBREAKER: Salford gave themselves a glimmer of hope at 6-14, but four tries in the final ten minutes of the first half ended any contest.
HIGHLIGHT REEL: The way Jack Broadbent, Joe Burgess and Mikey Lewis all combined to set up Burgess’ second try of the game was a delight to watch.
ALBERT GOLDTHORPE POINTS
3 pts Mikey Lewis (Hull KR)
2 pts Rhyse Martin (Hull KR)
1 pt Joe Burgess (Hull KR)
MATCHFACTS
RED DEVILS
57 Declan Murphy
51 Sam Hill
53 Tom Whitehead
50 Toby Warren
28 Nathan Connell
1 Ryan Brierley
27 Kai Morgan
18 Jack Ormondroyd
9 Joe Mellor
16 Loghan Lewis
30 Tiaki Chan
22 Matty Foster
24 Harvey Wilson
Subs (all used)
19 Justin Sangaré
26 Jamie Pye
29 Charlie Glover
43 Finley Yates
Also in 21-man squad
2 Ethan Ryan
10 Chris Hill
13 Joe Shorrocks
23 Chris Hankinson
52 Dan Russell
Tries: Sangaré (24), Glover (73)
Goals: Morgan 2/2
HULL KR
35 Arthur Mourgue
2 Tom Davies
3 Peta Hiku
18 Jack Broadbent
5 Joe Burgess
6 Mikey Lewis
7 Tyrone May
8 Sauaso Sue
14 Michael McIlorum
10 Jared Waerea-Hargreaves
17 Rhyse Martin
12 James Batchelor
13 Elliot Minchella
Subs (all used)
9 Jez Litten
15 Sam Luckley
20 Kelepi Tanginoa
21 Jack Brown
18th man (not used)
36 Noah Booth
Also in 21-man squad
11 Dean Hadley
16 Jai Whitbread
25 Bill Leyland
Tries: Davies (2, 59), Broadbent (3), Sue (10), Burgess (30, 39, 45, 47), Martin (34, 75), Litten (37, 79), Lewis (52), Mourgue (55)
Goals: Mourgue 2/5, Martin 7/9
Sin bin: May (25) – dissent
SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-4, 0-8, 0-14, 6-14, 6-18, 6-24, 6-30, 6-34; 6-40, 6-46, 6-52, 6-58, 6-64, 12-64, 12-68, 12-74
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Red Devils: Tiaki Chan; Hull KR: Mikey Lewis
Penalty count: 4-4
Half-time: 6-34
Referee: James Vella