ST HELENS 58 SALFORD RED DEVILS 0
IAN RIGG, Totally Wicked Stadium, Sunday
ST HELENS gave a sparking eleven-try performance against a Salford side that never gave up trying.
Despite another testing week for Salford, Paul Rowley was able to name probably his strongest team of the season and in the early exchanges they had a couple of half-chances and their defence was strong too, but it was Saints who took the lead on eight minutes when Jonny Lomax and Harry Robertson combined to get Kyle Feldt over in the right corner at the play-the-ball, but the winger could not add the conversion.
Saints went further ahead when Deon Cross drew the defence to send Owen Dagnall in at the corner but again Feldt could not convert from the touchline.
Chris Hill went off for a head-injury assessment on 28 minutes and Salford had to reshuffle.
And they applied strong pressure eight minutes from the break when a couple of good passing moves made them fifty metres, but a promising move was ended when the ball sailed into touch.
From the restart Saints went downfield and Tristan Sailor gave a lovely short pass for Feldt to add his second try of the afternoon.
Lomas took the conversion from this one and, via the left upright, he added the points.
From the restart Salford kicked the ball dead and put Saints back on the attack.
And shortly afterwards came the fourth try when Mose Mbye sent Morgan Knowles under the posts and again Lomax converted for Saints to lead 20-0 half time.
There was good news for Salford during the interval as Hill passed his assessment and returned for the start of the second half. The Red Devils needed to score first if they were to have any chance of catching their hosts.
And they tried, applying pressure down their right, but great tackling by Saints puts Ethan Ryan over the touchline.
Saints’ fifth try came on 49 minutes when Clark bust through a big gap to score under the posts and Lomax converted.
Dagnall then scored a second just before the hour and what a stunner it was, as the ball moved left it hit him on the foot and went over the goal line and he got there to touch it down before it ran dead. Lomax added the conversion again from the touchline.
Virtually from the restart Sailor added the next under the posts from a Robertson pass.
Jake Burns scored Saints’ eighth try when Feldt collected a high ball and fed him the pass.
Burns quickly added a second when he went from acting halfback and dived over by the posts with Lomax converting to bring up the half century.
The flood gates were well and truly open by now as Sailor added his second on the right.
Feldt got his third with three minutes left to top off a strong performance by Saints, who will travel to Hull FC on Saturday confident of being able to get a result.
GAMESTAR: Jonny Lomax gave a super performance with the ball and was not bad with the boot either.
GAMEBREAKER: Daryl Clark scored the first try of the second half and Salford’s chances were gone.
HIGHLIGHT REEL: Immaculate ball control from Owen Dagnall for his second try.
ALBERT GOLDTHORPE POINTS
3 pts Jonny Lomax (St Helens)
2 pts Kyle Feldt (St Helens)
1 pt Tristan Sailor (St Helens)
MATCHFACTS
SAINTS
6 Tristan Sailor
2 Kyle Feldt
26 Harry Robertson
36 Deon Cross
30 Owen Dagnall
7 Jonny Lomax
14 Moses Mbye
8 Alex Walmsley
9 Daryl Clark
10 Matty Lees
16 Matt Whitley
18 Jake Wingfield
13 Morgan Knowles
Subs (all used)
17 Agnatius Paasi
19 George Delaney
21 Noah Stephens
23 Jake Burns
18th man (not used)
27 George Whitby
Also in 21-man squad
11 Curtis Sironen
5 Jon Bennison
34 Jake Davies
Tries: Feldt (8, 33, 77), Dagnall (23, 58), Knowles (38), Clark (49), Sailor (62, 74), Burns (68, 71)
Goals: Feldt 0/2, Lomax 7/9
RED DEVILS
1 Ryan Brierley
2 Ethan Ryan
17 Esan Marsters
23 Chris Hankinson
45 Jonny Vaughan
6 Jayden Nikorima
56 Danny Richardson
18 Jack Ormondroyd
55 Kobe Rugless
10 Chris Hill
22 Matty Foster
52 Dan Russell
24 Harvey Wilson
Subs (all used)
19 Justin Sangare
28 Nathan Connell
29 Charlie Glover
53 Tom Whitehead
18th man (not used)
30 Tiaki Chan
Also in 21-man squad
27 Kai Morgan
43 Finley Yates
51 Sam Hill
SCORING SEQUENCE: 4-0, 8-0, 14-0, 20-0; 26-0, 32-0, 38-0, 44-0, 50-0, 54-0, 58-0
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Saints: Jonny Lomax; Red Devils: Jayden Nikorima
Penalty count: 4-0
Half-time: 20-0
Referee: Aaron Moore
Attendance: 10,192