Super League: Castleford Tigers 18-70 Salford Red Devils - Salford thrash youthful Cas side

Morgan Escare scored in either half to help Salford Red Devils move six points clear of bottom club Leigh Centurions

Salford scored 12 tries as the Red Devils thrashed a youthful Castleford Tigers side at the Mend-a-Hose Jungle.

Tigers, protecting first-teamers for the Challenge Cup final, were 22-6 down at half-time and tired after the break.

Morgan Escare and Rhys Williams scored a try in each half as 10 different players crossed for the Red Devils and Krisnan Inu kicked 22 points.

It was just a third win of the Super League campaign for Salford, who were depleted by injuries and suspensions.

Castleford are bidding to win the Challenge Cup for the first time since 1986, but head into next Saturday's Wembley showdown with St Helens on the back of six defeats in seven league outings.

Tigers coach Daryl Powell rested 14 players and handed debuts to Caelum Jordan, Cain Robb and Jack Sadler, while fellow academy graduates Adam Rusling and Nathan Magee were named as interchanges.

The returning Grant Millington put Castleford ahead early on but Jack Ormondroyd, Oliver Roberts, Escare and Rhys Williams went over for the visitors before the break.

Brad Martin finished off a sweeping Tigers move soon after the restart, but Salford took full advantage of their opponents' inexperience to snuff out any hopes of a comeback.

Ken Sio, Dec Patton, Harvey Costello and Chris Atkin all got on the scoresheet, while Inu, returning from a two-month ban for a social media post, only missed one conversion attempt.

After Alex Foster notched a consolation, Ben Davies and Dan Norman - who had both joined the Reds on one-week loan deals from St Helens - added late efforts before Williams rounded things off.

Castleford Tigers coach Daryl Powell:

"We've a pretty big game on Saturday and there is no way I was going to put most of our players into a game six days beforehand - it doesn't make any sense.

"This game should never have been on the Sunday before a big game.

"It was a big score but it was a means to get into the cup final healthy, and I thought there were a lot of positives.

"I thought the young players were great. They found it tough, which was pretty obvious."

Salford Red Devils coach Richard Marshall:

"It was a real professional performance, albeit against an under-strength and youthful Castleford team.

"You've still got to execute your plays and be disciplined, and I thought we ticked those boxes.

"We didn't have it all our own way. The first 20 minutes were a see-saw battle.

"We had to come through a tough week. We started it with six players in training and we had literally 17 today, nothing more than that."

Castleford: Qareqare, Clare, Foster, Blair, Jordan, Sadler, Richardson, Hepi, Robb, Millington, Martin, Sene-Lefao, Bienek.

Interchanges: Peachey, Hall, Rusling, Magee.

Salford: Escare, Sio, Inu, Costello, Williams, Patton, Atkin, Johnson, Ackers, Ormondroyd, Livett, Lannon, Burke.

Interchanges: Roberts, Norman, Pauli, Davies.

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