Castleford v Salford Match report
A lot was made of Castleford decision to rest players ahead of their match with Salford. One thing that should be noted though is that the Red Devils had around a dozen first choice players missing through injury and suspension. Add to that the lack of training due to Covid protocol it’s fair to say Richard Marshall’s week had been a testing one. Salford had to draft in loan players to get a squad together with Ben Davies returning for a second spell with the club. Dan Norman started on the bench having also been loaned from St.Helens with Davies.
The Tigers got off to the perfect start when Grant Millington took a flat pass to crash over through some disappointing Salford defence.
Jack Ormondroyd responded for Salford continuing his good form to score a try from close range.
Chances were limited in the first quarter before Morgan Escare raced away after picking up a loose pass. The referee brought the play back before putting Greg Burke on report. No penalty was awarded and Salford were allowed to play on.
Oliver Roberts powered over to give Salford the lead and Krisnan Inu converted.
The Red Devils were looking very dangerous down their right edge with Inu and Ken Sio linking up well. Inu seemed to have a calming influence on his return to the side and he never stopped barking instructions to the more inexperienced players.
Escare threw a lovely dummy before darting over to score Salford’s third try. The Frenchmen looked so elusive at times and very difficult for the home side to get a grip on.
Chris Atkin organised Salford well and his pinpoint kick found Rhys Williams who finished superbly to send the visitors in with a 6-22 lead at half time.
Whatever Tigers coach Daryl Powell said at half time it seemed to spur his side on momentarily. Youngster Brad Martin scored a try on the back of a Salford mistake and when Danny Richardson nailed the conversion the score was back at 12-22 and all to play for.
You sensed the next try would be an important one and it went Salford’s way when Pauli Pauli found Sio with a neat offload. The winger touched down and Inu booted another two points. Salford then moved up a gear and struck the Tigers with a barrage of points. Escare danced over before Declan Patton scored a well deserved try.
Escare then put a clever kick through which Matty Costello chased and he bravely got down to get the try just before the ball went dead.
Confidence was now flowing right through the team and Escare was unlucky when his try was disallowed for offside. Atkin kicked for him and it looked like a great piece of understanding between the two players but the referee adjudged it to be offside.
Atkin and Patton worked well together all afternoon. The pair linked up to provide Salford’s next try with Atkin marching under the sticks.
With this being a new halfback partnership another game together under their belts will certainly help.
Castleford did score a try through Alex Foster before Salford’s loan duo bagged tries. Firstly Dan Norman used is six foot five inch frame to smash through a big gap off another Patton pass. Ben Davies then showed tremendous determination to skittle the Tigers defence to bring the sixty point total up.
The final try of the match went to welsh winger Williams. He took the ball from the kick off, shook his hips and took the Castleford defence on. Showing lighting speed he raced the full length to leave the Salford away support at the old railway end of the ground beaming after a terrific performance.
The Red Devils now need to build on this performance when they meet Wakefield on Friday night. Although this match is a home game it will be played at Warrington due to pitch maintenance at the AJ Bell Stadium.
Castleford 18 Salford 70.
Paul Whiteside.
Pictures by Steve McCormick
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