In a nutshell
Salford Red Devils defeated Hull FC with a Rangi Chase field-goal in golden-point time at the KC Stadium in a thrilling fourth-round Tetley’s Challenge Cup-tie: FT 36-37.
How it unfolded
In a game played at a furious pace, the Red Devils led 16-18 at half-time, but it seemed to be slipping away from them when Hull led 34-24 into the second half. The Airlie Birds scored two tries in the first half from Joe Arundel and Jamie Shaul, with Ben Crooks converting both. The Red Devils had replied with two tries from Francis Meli and one from Chase, with Jake Mullaney converting all three.
In the second half the Black and Whites looked as though they were going to pull away thanks to tries from Fetuli Talanoa and Jordan Rankin, both goaled by Crooks. Theo Fages pulled one back for Salford, but Shaul scored his second try, again goaled by Crooks, to restore a ten-point advantage for Hull.
But then Junior Sau scored for the Red Devils after a move that covered 80 metres, and Mullaney’s goal reduced their deficit to four points. Crooks then added a penalty goal for Hull, but as the game entered he final minute Chase gave a superb long pass to Meli, who scored in the corner. Mullaney kicked the touchline conversion to level the scores at full-time.
As the game went into golden-point time, Arundel was injured and was taken off the field, and Salford were able to engineer the field position for Chase to land the winning field-goal after a remarkable evening of Rugby League.
A full report and photographs will appear in Monday’s edition of Rugby League Express.
