Super League: Castleford 10-50 Salford - Red Devils run in eight tries to beat Tigers
- Published
Betfred Super League |
---|
Castleford (10) 10 |
Tries: Mamo, Olpherts Goals: Richardson |
Salford (20) 50 |
Tries: Sneyd 2, Sio, Ormondroyd, Wright, Cross, Croft, Watkins Goals: Sneyd 9 |
Salford qualified for the Super League play-offs with an eight-try demolition of Castleford at The Jungle.
After racing into a 20-0 lead with tries from Marc Sneyd, Ken Sio and Jack Ormondroyd, Jake Mamo and Derrell Olpherts replied to halve the deficit.
But Cas were then disrupted by the half-time loss of Danny Richardson.
Salford stretched away with five second-half tries from Shane Wright, Deon Cross, Brodie Croft, Kallum Watkins - and a second for Sneyd.
Castleford's play-off hopes now depend on them beating neighbours Leeds in a Headingley showdown next Saturday afternoon.
Leeds, in sixth, had a chance close the door completely, had they beaten Catalans Dragons in the late game on Monday. But victory for the Dragons leaves the Rhinos just a point ahead of Cas going into that winner-take-all final-day clash.
And Cas boss Lee Radford is already warning that their injury problems, exacerbated by the loss of Richardson with a knee problem, have reached critical levels.
They were always on the back foot in this one after Sneyd early penalty and converted try, set up by Croft. The visitors then went 14-0 up after just 10 minutes when Watkins broke forward to set up Sio, before Ormondroyd threw a dummy to go under the sticks.
But Mamo's try, converted by Richardson, was followed by Greg Eden setting up Olpherts to score.
That at least gave Cas hope but it was one-way traffic after the break as Salford crossed the home line five more times.
Castleford coach Lee Radford:
"Physically, how we looked is a real issue. After two games in four days and the lack of numbers in our squad, you could argue it was expected but the way we started, my chin hit the floor with that first 20 minutes.
"I'm scratching my head a little bit as to how we get it right for Saturday against Leeds. We need to try and get 17 fit players and ask them to go out and do their best.
"We've got a spine that you would not dream of playing if we had a fully-fit squad, unfortunately, and our middle out there looked horrendous."
Salford assistant coach Danny Orr:
"We've been building to this from mid-season. The confidence now is really starting to show. We've been consistent for probably about 10 weeks or so.
"The lads truly believe that, if they play the way we can, we can compete with anybody and beat anybody, so that's showing on the field.
"It's not an arrogance, overthinking or getting ahead of ourselves. We've had some really good wins against some really good teams."
Castleford: Mamo; Faraimo, Sutcliffe, Fonua, Olpherts; Eden, Richardson; Massey, McShane, Griffin, Lawler, Mellor, Westerman.
Interchange: Watts, Matagi, Milner, Martin.
Salford: Brierley; Sio, Cross, Lafai, Sarginson; Croft, Sneyd; Ormondroyd, Ackers, Vuniyayawa, Taylor, Watkins, Wright.
Interchanges: Atkin, Luckley, Gerrard, Dupree.
Referee: Liam Moore.