Betfred Super League Round 6
Salford Red Devils 32-22 Leigh Leopards
Salford Community Stadium, Easter Saturday 30 March 2024 (5:30pm)
Umyla Hanley’s second hat-trick in eight days was this time in vain as the Red Devils came out on top in a nine-try Rivals Round thriller.
With Man of the Match Mark Sneyd calling the shots on the way to a 16-point personal haul the Red Devils looked well in control as they took a 26-6 lead early in the second half.
Leopards staged a late comeback as Matt Moylan began to dominate the game, but Ethan Ryan’s second try kept Salford’s noses in front.
Ryan Brierley, one of five former Leigh players in the Salford ranks, celebrated his 300th professional game with two first-half tries, the 224th and 225th of his prolific career.
Of that tally 154 tries came in Brierley’s 156 Leigh games.
With Ricky Leutele, Oliver Holmes and Frankie Halton all joining the lengthy Leopards injury list head coach Adrian Lam brought in Ed Chamberlain for his first game of the season and handed a debut to Lewis Baxter.
But Salford, smarting from a heavy Challenge Cup defeat at Hull KR, dominated the first half with Sneyd, Cade Cust and Brierley an attacking trio the Leopards found hard to contain.
Leopards lost Lachlan Lam to the sin bin for holding back Brierley as he chased a Sneyd kick, and the Salford marksman kicked the resulting penalty to get his side off the mark.
Sneyd and Cust then combined to create the opportunity for the supporting Brierley to cut through and wrongfoot the Leopards defence.
Leopards made a slow start and rarely threatened in attack until Gareth O’Brien joined the attack on the right, fastened onto Moylan’s pass and ushered Hanley over in the corner.
But Salford finished the half strongly, Sneyd and Cust creating a second for Brierley before Ryan crashed over on the left after Leopards failed to control the home side’s offloading game.
Just before half-time Brierley was yellow-carded for taking Hanley off the ball and Moylan’s penalty hauled back two points for a 20-6 deficit.
Leopards just failed to take advantage of their temporary man advantage as they began the second half strongly, Brad Dwyer and Josh Charnley both held up, then Hanley bundled into touch. Having ridden out the storm Salford looked to have put the issue beyond doubt as Sneyd went over from Oliver Partington’s clever offload.
But Leopards suddenly came to life, Lam finishing off a brilliant left wing move involving Moylan and Chamberlain before Hanley got over on the right after a fine approach play by Lam and Moylan.
Ryan’s second try, a scruffy effort confirmed by the video referee following a Sneyd kick which bobbled off a group of players, put the issue beyond doubt. Sneyd’s conversion was his 25th successful kick in a row.
But Leopards had the final say with Moylan again providing the assist for Hanley to take his tally to eight tries in four games since replacing the injured Tom Briscoe.
Red Devils
1 Ryan Brierley; 5 Dean Cross, 3 Nene Macdonald, 4 Tim Lafai, 2 Ethan Ryan; 6 Cade Cust, 7 Marc Sneyd; 17 Jack Ormondroyd, 24 Joe Mellor, 15 Shane Wright, 11 Sam Stone, 12 Kallum Watkins (capt), 13 Oliver Partington.
Bench: 10 King Vuniyayawa, 16 Joe Shorrocks, 14 Chris Atkin, 9 Amir Bourouh.
18th player: 21 Matt Foster (not used).
Tries: Brierley (13, 32), Ryan (32, 74), Sneyd (55)
Goals: Sneyd 6/6
Sin bin: Brierley (40)
Leopards
1 Gareth O’Brien; 24 Umyla Hanley, 3 Zak Hardaker, 19 Ed Chamberlain, 5 Josh Charnley; 6 Matt Moylan, 7 Lachlan Lam; 14 Dan Norman, 33 Brad Dwyer, 10 Robbie Mulhern (capt), 11 Kai O’Donnell, 12 Jack Hughes, 17 Owen Trout.
Bench: 15 Matt Davis, 18 Ben Nakubuwai, 21 Ben McNamara, 29 Lewis Baxter.
18th player: 25 Tom Nisbet (not used).
Leopards debut: Lewis Baxter (HN#1561)
Tries: Hanley (27, 69, 76), Lam (61)
Goals: Moylan 3/ 5
Sin bin: Lam (7)
Scores: 2-0, 8-0, 8-4. 14-4, 20-4, 20-6 (ht) 26-6, 26-12, 26-16, 32-16, 32-22
Penalty count: 5-5
Referee: James Vella; Touch-judges: S Elis & N Horton; Reserve referee: Liam Rush; Video Referee: Liam Moore; MC: A Smith; TK: R Safi
