Salford Red Devils picked up a crucial 30-22 victory on home soil against Castleford Tigers on Saturday afternoon to strengthen their grip on the play-off spots.
In a clash which saw the lead change hands numerous times, three unanswered tries in the space of nine minutes midway through the second half proved pivotal for the hosts.
Here are our six conclusions from an absolute thriller at the Salford Community Stadium…
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Salford strengthen grip on play-off place
Regardless of how it was achieved, it was vital that Salford picked up a win on offer to extend the gap between themselves and the play-off chasing pack to four competition points, moving up to 4th place on the ladder.
With others around them slipping up already this weekend, including St Helens, a first win in three has given the Red Devils some breathing room ahead of next weekend’s visit of Leeds Rhinos, the side that currently occupy that 7th spot.
The Rhinos, Saints, Leigh Leopards, Hull KR, Catalans Dragons and Wigan Warriors all remain on the agenda before the end of the regular season for Paul Rowley’s side. If they are to achieve a top-six finish, they’ve still got a lot of work to do, but Saturday’s victory is a good start.
Nene Macdonald magic
There were a number of outstanding performers on show for both sides in M30 on Saturday afternoon, and yet again, Papua New Guinea star Macdonald was one of them for Salford.
Scoring their first try of the contest by powering over under the challenge of numerous Cas defenders, he was desperately unlucky to see a second ruled out soon after having outjumped Tigers half-back Jacob Miller to touch the ball down underneath the sticks.
Tries are just the tip of the iceberg for the Kumuls ace though, with tackle busts and breaks aplenty to earn the Red Devils an insane amount of metres. He’s got to be in contention for their Player of the Year alongside Marc Sneyd.
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Jayden Nikorima a live wire on debut
On debut! ✨ pic.twitter.com/YdDTUYbcTg
— Salford Red Devils 👹 (@SalfordDevils) July 27, 2024
It was the first time we’ve seen Nikorima take to the field as a Red Devils player having quickly been snapped up by the Greater Manchester outfit following his release from Catalans Dragons, and the playmaker didn’t disappoint.
He proved a live wire throughout the clash with Cas, and caused the Tigers quite a few problems when he had the ball in hand.
On first look, it would appear the New Zealander is the perfect fit for Rowley’s side and style, ticking all the boxes as an off-the-cuff player.
Ill-discipline costs Castleford dearly
It feels like we’re stating the obvious, but Castleford‘s lack of discipline ended up costing them quite dearly on the day.
They spent 20 minutes of the contest down to 12 men having seen PNG pair Liam Horne and Sylvester Namo sin-binned just after the half-hour and hour-marks respectively.
And during the time that those two spent off the field, Salford scored three of their five tries. Horne sat down after a late hit, with Namo sin-binned for a high tackle on Ollie Partington which could easily have been given as a red. Unnecessary offences on both parts.
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Tigers’ milestone man forced off
👏 Our Managing Director, Paul King has just made a presentation to @CTRLFC’s George Griffin, who today brings up 250 career appearances.
114 of them for the Red Devils – congratulations Griff! 👹 pic.twitter.com/rtYEMHxPpR
— Salford Red Devils 👹 (@SalfordDevils) July 27, 2024
Ex-Salford man George Griffin – who was presented with a bottle of fizz by the Red Devils for his milestone before the game – made his 250th career appearance, but the occasion wasn’t marked as he’d have hoped.
Even result aside with the visitors beaten, he was forced off 62 minutes in following a heavy collision with Red Devils prop Brad Singleton attempting to back a tackle directly from a kick-off.
The 32-year-old’s concussion check was deemed ‘Category 1’, meaning that the medical staff didn’t even need to carry out a formal HIA check to rule him out of both the remainder of Saturday’s game and next Thursday evening’s clash with Leigh at The Jungle.
Red Devils’ ‘annual inclusion’ fixture an overriding success
To round off our conclusions from the Round 19 clash, we wanted to throw some praise the way of Salford for the way they’ve handled their ‘annual inclusion fixture’.
This year, the theme chosen was colour blindness, and the Red Devils did an incredible amount to both aid those who suffer with the deficiency and create more awareness around it. Changing their badge, kit, and the colour of every other 10-metre marking on the field, every effort was made across digital platforms and in person at the ground.
Approximately one in 12 males and around one in 20 of the entire population are colourblind, with red/green being the most common type of colour vision deficiency, and worldwide, about 300 million people are estimated to suffer with colour blindness. A very worthy theme, and an excellent execution from Saturday’s hosts.
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