Salford ladies 8 Leigh 26 Match Report
Salford Red Devils ladies were beaten in their 2nd preseason game of 2023 as Leigh Leppard's were victorious on the Salford City Stadium Community pitch.
Salford were without scrum half Demi Jones and Full back Luci Mckeown, with Sam Evans and Sage Bannister filling in and winger Summer Harris starting in place of Kate Garry.
The game started at a frantic pace with both sides running hard early on. Leigh Ellise Derbyshire had the 1st opportunity slicing through the Salford defence out wide but a heroic team effort halted her progress.
Salfords forwards were full of hard running with Darcy price, Sarina Tamou, Megan Condliffe and new signing Emarald Hickey making inroads, unfortunately without Jones organisation and ball distribution they struggled to move the ball which resulted in errors in the 1st half .
This gave Leigh territory and ball for long periods, Salford's defence was tested and rebuffed the pressure with Fullback Bannister being peppered with bombs and grubber kicks defusing pressure, organising Salford's defence and starting Salford's attack.
Leigh opened the scoring after Captain Mairread Quinn burst though the Salford defence to score after 18 minutes Rhinna Burke added the conversion and they lead 0-6.
Salford's inability to keep the ball began to hurt them as Leigh piled on the pressure, more heroic defending rebuffed the Leigh onslaught.
Unfortunately for Salford on the stroke of half time Leighs pressure was rewarded with a try, a sweeping move sent Makenzie Taylor over in the corner for the score.
The conversion was missed and Salford went into half time trailing 0-10.
The 2nd half was better for Salford, they built pressure and forced errors, Captain Louise Fellingham was Salford's main attacking threat throughout marshalled her troops asking questions of the Leigh defence.
After a period of time on the Leigh line looked like Salford had opened their account as Helena Walker went though a gap but the ball was patted down in flight and a scrum was given.
From the resulting scrum Fellingham teased the Leigh defence with a diagonal run, a floating pass caught the Leigh defenders off balance which resulted in winger Lauren Ellison racing over in the corner for Salford's 1st try of the afternoon.
Sam Evans was unable to convert but Salford were back in the contest at 4-10 with 50 minutes gone.
Salford were caught with a sucker punch by Leigh shortly after, a kick by Fellingham was nearly gathered by Alex Simpson and Hickey on the Leigh 20m, from the resulting play of the ball fullback Ilsa Aspen found space in the Salford defence and raced 80m to go under the posts and take the wind out of Salfords sails.
Salford rallied from kick off as another Leigh error allowed pressure to be built, Brogan Evans went close before Salford winger Kate Garry was bundled into touch by four Leigh defenders to prevent the score.
Leighs pace in the back division was there for all to see again 5 minutes later as winger Elsie Gater was found by scrum half Emma Knowles, she showed a turn of pace to race 60 m to score. Conversion was good by Burke and Leigh lead 4-20.
Knowles who as a thorn in Salford's side all afternoon and was next on the score sheet, a chip and chase caused problems in the Salford defence allowing her to touch down in the corner with 15 minutes to go.
Salford finished the stronger as Darcy Price, Alex Simpson and Kate Garry created half chances to register scores but as the hooter sounded it was captain Louise Fellingham who spotted space behind the defensive line, kicked though from 10 yards out Brogan Evans was quickest to spot the opportunity, pick up and scored in front of a sizable crowd watching behind the goal.
Another game and another opportunity for Chris Bates to evaluate his squad ahead of the start of their Super League campaign in a couple of weeks time.
Final Score
Salford 8 Leigh 26
Tries
Lauren Ellison
Brogan Evans
Match report Robert Parkinson
Picture by Marissa Chaplin
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