MIDLANDS HURRICANES 10 SALFORD RED DEVILS 46
IAN GOLDEN, Alexander Stadium, Sunday
SALFORD are through to the fourth round of the Challenge Cup, but they were given a good game by their League One opponents.
With the two-division gap between the sides, one would expect Salford to be the better side, which they were, but not by much. They certainly weren’t 36 points better and, in the first half, it was hard to recognise that one side was ranked higher than the other.
After both sides played a perfect first five minutes, it was only a penalty for Salford, then a scrum on Midlands’ ten-metre line, that led to the first try. From that scrum, Nene Macdonald ran over in the corner. Chris Hankinson converted, as he did for seven of the Red Devils’ eight tries.
Midlands soon levelled. Again the score came from a penalty, this one being won on Salford’s ten-metre line. From the resulting set, Aiden Roden ran over and Jake Sweeting converted.
They nearly went into the lead as the clock ticked past 20 minutes. Leaping onto a grubber, Matty Hanley fumbled as he tried to ground the ball.
And Salford made them pay as a set over the length of the field culminated in Hankinson twisting over to score, converting his own try.
Midlands hit back again with eight minutes remaining in the first half. After winning a set restart when Salford were persistently holding down for too long, they didn’t waste their chance and Matty Chrimes went over in the corner.
Sweeting couldn’t land the conversion attempt and, at the other end, Hankinson missed a penalty given just after the hooter sounded. Salford had a very small 12-10 lead at the break but there was nothing at all between the sides.
Macdonald extended Salford’s lead early in the second half and, despite the pass to him looking suspiciously forward, the officials awarded it.
And despite winning a repeat set near to the Midlands try-line, Salford couldn’t quickly extend their lead further.
They only got their fourth try through a Midlands error when Jayden Nikorima quickly scooped up a dropped ball and ran 70 metres to score.
A dropped ball on Midlands’ 10-metre line gave Salford the chance to extend their lead even further and they didn’t waste their good fortune when immediately from the scrum, Deon Cross scored in the corner.
For the last 15 minutes, Super League fitness kicked in, extending the scoreline to one that didn’t reflect the closeness of the game.
On 66 minutes, Esan Marsters raced away to score in the corner and ten minutes later, Cross finished off a good passing move by diving in the corner, with Hankinson failing to convert for the first time.
And with the final move of the match, Nikorima easily slipped through the tired Midlands defence to score under sticks.
Midlands will hopefully not lose much heart in conceding those late tries.
For much of the game, Salford were not a great deal better than the sides Midlands faced week on week last season.
The Hurricanes, if they keep up the form they showed in the first half, could be in for a good league season.
GAMESTAR: Kicking was an important part of this game and Jayden Nikorima played an instrumental part in the win.
GAMEBREAKER: When Deon Cross scored just after the hour mark to make it 30-10, there was no coming back for the plucky Midlands side.
MATCHFACTS
HURRICANES
1 Todd Horner
2 Matty Chrimes
3 Ryan Johnson
4 Ross Oakes
24 Matty Hanley
6 Jake Sweeting
7 Callum McLelland
8 Jon-Luke Kirby
14 Aiden Roden
20 Elliott Morris
11 Tom Wilkinson
12 Josh Jordan-Roberts
13 Mikey Wood
Subs (all used)
9 Daniel Barcoe
15 Aaron Willis
18 Zeus Silk
19 Marcus Green
Tries: Roden (13), Chrimes (32)
Goals: Sweeting 1/2
RED DEVILS
1 Ryan Brierley
5 Deon Cross
17 Esan Marsters (D)
23 Chris Hankinson
3 Nene Macdonald
6 Jayden Nikorima
14 Chris Atkin
8 Brad Singleton
27 Kai Morgan
18 Jack Ormondroyd
15 Shane Wright
30 Tiaki Chan (D)
13 Joe Shorrocks
Subs (all used)
22 Matty Foster
19 Justin Sangaré (D)
20 Joe Bullock
28 Nathan Connell
Tries: Macdonald (9, 46), Hankinson (22), Nikorima (54, 80), Cross (61, 76), Marsters (66)
Goals: Hankinson 7/9
SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-6, 6-6, 6-12, 10-12; 10-18, 10-24, 10-30, 10-36, 10-40, 10-46
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Hurricanes: Zeus Silk; Red Devils: Jayden Nikorima
Penalty count: 5-5
Half-time: 10-12
Referee: Aaryn Belafonte
Attendance: 831
