ST HELENS 82 SALFORD RED DEVILS 0
KASEY SMITH, Totally Wicked Stadium, Saturday
ST HELENS kicked off their campaign with a Super League-record win over a reserves-laden Salford, who are still to have their takeover affirmed by the Rugby Football League.
Head coach Paul Rowley, speaking to the BBC before the game, blamed injuries and “miscommunication” as to why the club did not name a side similar to the one which progressed past Midlands in the Challenge Cup the previous week for this game, which opened the corporation’s 2025 Super League coverage.
The Red Devils were the stronger side when these two met in pre-season last month, with Saints looking rather one-dimensional when it came to finding gaps in the final third. This game was a different story for obvious reasons.
Kai Morgan was the standout for Salford, whose kicking game became an outlet for the Red Devils in their rare forays into the Saints half.
It was always going to be a tough ask for the highly inexperienced team, who had just a handful of Salford first-team appearances between them in the starting 13.
And the 15 unanswered tries, eleven converted by Mark Percival, saw Saints record Super League’s biggest ever margin of victory, surpassing 80-point wins for Leeds (v Huddersfield) in 1999, Bradford (v Salford) in 2000 and Warrington (v Wakefield) in 2015.
It took just five minutes for the floodgates to open and it came after a strong St Helens defensive set, as they forced Salford to kick from inside their own ten-metre line.
With the territory, Morgan Knowles was able to power his way over from close range as Paul Wellens’ men asserted their authority.
Right from the restart, Saints exploited massive gaps in the Red Devils’ defence. Percival tore through the line, setting up a length-of-the-field attack, with Lewis Murphy racing through to finish the move.
Saints were too fast, too powerful. In the next set of six, a burst of pace from Tristan Sailor was enough for him to fly through the weak Salford defence and touch down.
Salford could not get out of the rut they had found themselves in, and another error from the kick-off as it went out on the full allowed Saints to score their fourth through Curtis Sironen.
The ruthless Saints wanted more and a deft Sailor grubber to the corner was not dealt with by fullback Nathan Connell as Harry Robertson dived on the ball for the fifth score of the evening.
And more followed, a Daryl Clark dummy wrong-footed the Salford defenders, allowing the hooker to play in the onrushing Knowles who ran from the halfway line to ground under the posts.
Then Murphy – cutting across the field – linked up with Sailor, who delivered a slick basketball-style pass to Joe Batchelor who quickly fed Robertson in open space, allowing him to score his second try.
More tries followed in the second half for Feldt – off a Sailor pass – Jonny Lomax via a dummy, and then three more by Sailor on his Super League debut.
The halfback supported two Welsby breaks for his second and fourth tries of the game, either side of an individual effort.
Percival and Batchelor both eased over in the closing stages before prop George Delaney completed the rout with an unlikely break from the halfway line.
Credit must go to St Helens, who stayed focused and were clinical against Salford’s second string side, but little was learnt from this non-contest.
GAMESTAR: Tristan Sailor played some easy-on-the-eye rugby and showed a deadly burst of pace too.
GAMEBREAKER: From the moment Morgan Knowles broke through the Salford line in one of their opening sets, which led to the first try, you knew the Red Devils would be in for a very tough afternoon.
HIGHLIGHT REEL: The tenth try, where Kyle Feldt broke the line and offloaded to Jack Welsby who slickly played in Tristan Sailor under the posts, showed Saints at their best.
ALBERT GOLDTHORPE POINTS
3 pts Tristan Sailor (St Helens)
2 pts Morgan Knowles (St Helens)
1 pt Daryl Clark (St Helens)
MATCHFACTS
SAINTS
1 Jack Welsby
2 Kyle Feldt (D)
26 Harry Robertson
4 Mark Percival
20 Lewis Murphy
6 Tristan Sailor
7 Jonny Lomax
8 Alex Walmsley
9 Daryl Clark
10 Matty Lees
11 Curtis Sironen
12 Joe Batchelor
13 Morgan Knowles
Subs (all used)
15 James Bell
16 Matt Whitley
18 Jake Wingfield
19 George Delaney
18th man (not used)
5 Jon Bennison
Also in 21-man squad
14 Moses Mbye
17 Agnatius Paasi
21 Noah Stephens
Tries: Knowles (5, 33), Murphy (8), Sailor (11, 50, 55, 66), Sironen (14), Robertson (22, 38), Feldt (42), Lomax (46), Percival (71), Batchelor (74), Delaney (77)
Goals: Percival 11/15
RED DEVILS
28 Nathan Connell
33 Ethan Fitzgerald
40 Josh Wagstaffe
32 Lucas Coan (D)
38 Sean Murray (D)
27 Kai Morgan
34 Jack Gatcliffe
31 Leunbou Bardyel-Wells
41 Finley Yates (D)
35 Harrison Hope (D)
39 James Shields (D)
36 John Hutchings (D)
37 Logan Lagar (D)
Subs (all used, only three named)
20 Joe Bullock
25 Ben Hellewell
30 Tiaki Chan
Also in 17-man squad
– Charlie McCurrie
SCORING SEQUENCE: 6-0, 10-0, 16-0, 22-0, 28-0, 34-0, 38-0; 42-0, 48-0, 54-0, 60-0, 66-0, 70-0, 76-0, 82-0
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Saints: Tristan Sailor; Red Devils: Kai Morgan
Penalty count: 6-4
Half-time: 38-0
Referee: Jack Smith
Attendance: 12,218