Super League: Salford Red Devils 10-36 Catalans Dragons - visitors ease to seventh win of season
- Published
Mitchell Pearce's try helped Catalans pass 30 points for the first time this season
Betfred Super League |
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Salford (6) 10 |
Tries: Cross, Sio Goal: Sneyd |
Catalans (18) 36 |
Tries: Laguerre, Davies, Pearce 2, Whitley, Kasiano Goals: Mourgue 6 |
Catalans kept pace with leaders St Helens as they cruised to their biggest win of the season at Salford.
Deon Cross gave the hosts an early lead, but tries from Matthieu Laguerre, Tom Davies and Mitchell Pearce gave Dragons an 18-6 half-time lead.
Matt Whitley powered away to add an interception try and Sam Kasiano added a fifth score inside the hour.
Ken Sio replied for Salford, but Pearce's second try - and six Arthur Mourgue goals - capped a 36-10 victory.
A seventh win in their last eight Super League games keeps Catalans within two points of pacesetting Saints, but Salford are struggling in ninth after conceding more than 30 points for a fourth time in six matches.
The Red Devils made the perfect start when a spell of pressure was capped by Cross dropping on Ryan Brierley's grubber kick to put the hosts ahead.
Yet the lead proved short-lived as last season's Grand Final runners-up were level within five minutes when Josh Drinkwater's pass teed up Laguerre to cross.
An intense opening quarter saw the visitors hit the front as Joe Chan broke the Salford line before quick hands down the right sent English winger Davies over in the corner.
Salford rang the changes and brought on centre Kallum Watkins for his first action since picking up a knee injury against Warrington in May 2021.
But the Dragons stretched their lead after 33 minutes when Mourgue - who added three first-half goals - skipped through Salford tackles before offloading to Pearce.
Salford needed to make hay while Chan sat in the sin-bin for a professional foul just before the break, but instead shipped an interception try before Micky McIlorum's low kick teed up prop Kasiano for a fifth Catalans try.
Sio's 11th score of the season sent him clear at the top of the Super League try-scorer charts, but it was small consolation as Salford sank to a sixth defeat in their last seven Super League outings, with Pearce's late score underlining the visitors' dominance.
Salford head coach Paul Rowley:
"We beat ourselves. It was the same old story, unfortunately. I thought we saw two tired teams that got into an arm wrestle and one team was more resilient than the other.
"Our completions were high in the first half, so it looked like we had learned some lessons and we had made some progression. But by the time I got up to the gantry for the second half, we'd dropped a ball from the kick-off, had two restarts and conceded a penalty.
"Things just snowballed from there - we didn't deal with that adversity at all. The manner of some of the tries we conceded today and at Warrington on Thursday were unacceptable.
"We have got a good group that work hard, but the thing we don't do well is learn lessons."
Catalans Dragons head coach Steve McNamara:
"I am really pleased with our performance. I thought we were in control despite conceding after a few minutes - it was a setback we dealt with well.
"I am sick of defending with 12 players at the minute (after Joe Chan's sin-binning). There were a couple of back-to-back penalties we conceded and at that stage we were in control.
"It could have changed the dynamics of the game, but thankfully it didn't."
Salford: Brierley, Sio, Costello, Cross, Williams, Croft, Sneyd, Akauola, Ackers, Ormonroyd, Addy, Taylor, Luckley.
Interchanges: Vuniyayawa, Atkin, Johnson, Watkins.
Catalans: Napa, McIlorum, Goudemand, Whitley, Chan, Garcia, Drinkwater, Pearce, Yaha, Laguerre, May, Davies, Mourgue.
Interchanges: Da Costa, Seguier, Dezaria, Kasiano.
Sin-bin: Chan (39)
Referee: J. Child