Rhinos rampant at the AJ Bell as Salford see Red in more than one way

Leeds Rhinos came away from the AJ Bell Stadium victorious, triumphing 38-12 over hosts Salford Red Devils in a game that was overshadowed by ill-discipline throughout, including two early red cards.

Tries from both Richie Myler and Luke Gale helped the Rhinos to victory, though both could have followed teammate Bodene Thompson into ‘being sent for an ‘early bath’ following his clash with Salford’s Lee Mossop. The Salford captain also received his marching orders.

With Leeds having not played a game in 30 days due to a Coronavirus outbreak at the club’s training ground, and Salford having won just two of their opening ten Super League games, the two sides could be forgiven for a slow start to the encounter on Sunday afternoon.

Having cancelled one another out for the opening few minutes, Red Devils’ man Joe Burgess had the first opportunity of the game making just his second appearance of the campaign since signing for the club. Burgess took Dec Patton’s crossfield kick and dived for the line but was held up by some strong Leeds defence.

The visitors then pushed on for the first time in the game, but two knock-ons in quick succession meant that the scores were still level at 0-0 as the clock ticked onto the 15-minute mark, and it was then when the ill-discipline began in some style.

Following a tackle made by Salford captain Mossop on the Rhinos’ Konrad Hurrell, there was a coming together after the ball had been played. Mossop landed a right hook on Hurrell and knocked the big Tongan out cold for a period, meaning that he had to leave the field for a Head Injury Assessment.

Unsurprisingly, Hurrell failed that, and Mossop saw red from referee Robert Hicks, but so did Leeds’ Thompson. That came about as following the initial punch, a melee between the two sides in their entirety began and Thompson ran in much to the dislike of Hicks. Both teams down to 12 and Leeds awarded a penalty, from which they took full advantage.

Some quick hands down the left-wing saw Jack Broadbent in space, giving him the simple task of touching down over the white line to put his team in front. Rhyse Martin converted, and the scoreboard read 6-0 to the Rhinos, backed by some vocal travelling fans.

Salford were clearly rattled, and soon after would be penalised further. Having defended a set, Leeds had the ball back close to their own line but were relieved of any pressure when the Red Devils’ Jack Wells tipped his opponent in the tackle. the 23-year-old received a yellow card for his actions, leaving his side with just 11 on the pitch for ten minutes.

At the first opportunity, it had looked like Salford might have been able to ride the wave out with a man down compared to the Rhinos, forcing a knock-on from the visitors close to the tryline. That wouldn’t last long though, and the problem again came down Leeds’ left, Tom Briscoe the beneficiary on this occasion, receiving the ball in space and diving in at the corner. Conversion missed by Martin, but Leeds had extended their lead to 10-0 with little over 20 minutes gone.

They arguably should have had more when Brad Dwyer broke through the line, but the Leeds hooker spilled the ball when challenged not too far from the line, something which he would come to regret shortly after as Salford got themselves on the scoreboard for the first time in the afternoon.

Last week’s drop goal hero at Huddersfield – Chris Atkin – intercepted a pass and ran almost the length of the field to notch the Red Devils’ first four points of the contest. He then converted his own try, and Salford were within four points of the Rhinos. 6-10. That deficit would be halved with around five minutes until the break too, Dec Patton converting a penalty goal and earning his side two points from close range, the score at 8-10.

If the hosts could have held onto that until Half time, then they may well have had a chance of coming away from the game victorious, but in just three minutes, they conceded two tries. Both came from former Salford man Richie Myler, the first carved out with some good footwork by the 31-year-old, and the second with him taking advantage of a gap in the Red Devils’ defence. Martin converted both, one after the hooter had gone, and the sides headed in at the interval 8-22.

Already down to 12, the last thing that Salford needed at the start of the second half – with a mountain to climb in terms of the scoreboard – was any more ill-discipline, but unfortunately for boss Richard Marshall, that’s what they got. Interchange Ryan Lannon saw yellow from official Hicks following another off-the-ball incident which turned into a melee. Of course, there is never a one-sided incident with Leeds’ Gale also heading to the bin for ten minutes.

It had looked as though both Gale and Myler had thrown a punch at Lannon, though if that was the case, it wasn’t picked up by the officials, much to the discontent of the Salford fans at the AJ Bell. Retrospective bans could be on their way for both sides following this game.

Leeds loved to attack the left wing and got even more success down that side when Salford were penalised for a flop in their own 10 metres. A Leeds man had made a dash for the line on the left and been stopped superbly, but when another Red Devils’ man fell on top of the attacker, Hicks blew up.

From the resulting penalty, the hosts didn’t even get the opportunity to make one tackle before the ball had been shifted out wide again, and Broadbent was there to grab his second try of the game. More or less a carbon copy of his first, the conversion was missed, but a scoreline of 8-26 was still a good one for the Yorkshiremen.

Salford did then start to put the pressure on to try and get back in the game, forcing a goal-line drop out but once again, they knocked on and couldn’t capitalise on an opportunity. Amidst that, ‘pantomime’ villain Gale had now returned to the pitch having completed his ten minutes in the bin.

Of course, discipline played a big part in this game, but so did the two teams’ abilities to be clinical. With 15 minutes left, and just after Salford passed up an opportunity, Kruise Leeming put the game to bed once and for all for Leeds. The big halfback powered through three Salford bodies trying to bring him down and got the ball over the tryline. Once more, Martin converted, and the Rhinos were 8-32 to the good.

Not long after, the same pattern occurred in terms of Salford passing up on an opportunity, and Leeds responding almost instantly to extend their lead. Red Devils’ interchange Jack Ormondroyd did have the ball over the line, but the play was pulled back for a knock on and then up stepped ‘villain’ Gale. Tom Briscoe broke the Salford line and offloaded to Gale who sauntered over the try line and got the ball down despite a late challenge to try and push him out of the field of play. Martin’s boot was accurate again, and the Rhinos were 30 points in front, leading 8-38.

That was the visitors’ last try of the day and though they avoided further punishment, both from the referee and their opponents, when King Vuniyayawa was penalised for a late tackle. They could do nothing to stop tricky French winger Morgan Escare from making the scoreline look more respectable with around eight minutes remaining.

Escare took the ball inside his own 20 metres on the right wing and danced past numerous Rhinos’ challenges, before going all the way on his own to score a much-needed try for the hosts. But it didn’t stop Leeds coming away with a 12-38 victory.

Leeds reigned supreme by 26 points. The Rhinos still sit eighth in the Super League table but are on the same points as Castleford Tigers in seventh and are now very close to the Tigers in terms of ‘Win Percentage’ which is what this year’s final standings will be decided by ultimately.

As for Salford, it’s now two wins in eleven games, but they are still reasonably comfortable by way of avoiding relegation due to the still winless Leigh Centurions propping up the table. Any remaining play-off hopes may well have been ended for the Red Devils with this defeat.

Post-Match Reaction:

Richard Agar (Leeds Rhinos’ Head Coach): “We felt that we were on top [in the first half]and if we could get more control, we felt that it was a game that we could win comfortably which I thought we did, but sin bins do make it more difficult for yourself.

“When they got the intercept try, we came back and got two tries before Half time. That was a key stage in the game.

“The referee was involved – rightly or wrongly – on numerous occasions through discipline. I missed the whole thing [incident which led to Thompson’s red card]because I was watching the playoff the ball. It would be unfair of me to comment on whether it was a fair sending off or not.

“To be fair though, we’ve been training with 11 and 12 blokes for quite a while now [because of the COVID outbreak at the club], so we’ve had a lot of practice for these situations in the last 2 or 3 weeks as daft as it sounds.”

Richard Marshall (Salford Red Devils’ Head Coach): “At times, we were ill-disciplined. It was a bit of a mess of a game, and getting a man sent off again – and one sin-binned – has unravelled us.

“We need to be defending with 13 players and our discipline has to improve, but it [Mossop’s punch] was an act of self-defence in my opinion. If Hurrell just gets on with the game and doesn’t chase him, then we’re not sat here having these conversations.

“If we’re working on the same basis, then Myler and Gale should have been sent off. They threw punches at Ryan Lannon. I’m not making excuses, you’ve got to deal with what’s in front of you. We are having it tough, but we’ve got to tow the line. Lannon and Mossop did that today in my opinion.

“We can only take control of what we do, but there’s got to be consistency. We’re getting a bit of a raw seal at the moment, but we do have to hold our hands up as a team and say that it [ill-discipline] puts us under pressure. It’s about a collective team effort.

“The performance wasn’t good enough, we need to make sure that the performance last week [winning away at Huddersfield]wasn’t a blip and wasn’t a one off. That three-minute period before half time, when we conceded back-to-back tries, that’s where they [Leeds] ran away with it today I think.

“We haven’t got time to dwell, moan and mope. Circumstances went against us this afternoon, but it wasn’t a spectacle that we wanted to show our Salford fans. We need to have more fight here [at the AJ Bell stadium]for them.”

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