Super League: Salford Red Devils 16-14 Catalans Dragons

King Vuniyayawa's opening try against Catalans was his first score of the season

Salford Red Devils dramatically hung on to beat Catalans Dragons and move equal on points with the French club in the Super League table.

A King Vuniyayawa try and an 80m effort from Joe Burgess just before the break put Salford 14-4 up.

A second-half Paul Seguier score, after Tom Johnstone grabbed Dragons' only points of the first 40 minutes, got Catalans back to within six points.

Adam Keighran's failure to convert his last-minute try proved the difference.

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Handling errors plagued the side from Perpignan as they slumped to a third straight defeat, while the Red Devils moved above defending champions St Helens and into fifth spot with a third successive victory.

Vuniyayawa barged over for the game's opening score before Marc Sneyd added a penalty to his earlier conversion to make it 8-0 after 25 minutes.

A knock-on from the restart allowed Johnstone to hit back immediately, and while the winger had the pace to catch Burgess as he raced away in the final minute of the first half, he failed to stop the Salford flyer from adding to the hosts' advantage.

A second Sneyd penalty crucially saw the Red Devils edge further ahead early in the second half, only for Seguier to meet a neat grubber kick for Dragons' second try with 30 minutes remaining.

Catalans heaped the pressure on after that, and despite conceding a series of penalties on their try line Salford's defence kept the Dragons out until the final seconds of an absorbing contest.

While Keighran's touchdown seemed sure to send the game to golden-point extra time with a seemingly straightforward conversion, he failed to slot the points with a kick that sparked rapturous celebrations among the home fans.

Salford head coach Paul Rowley told BBC Radio Manchester:

"I thought today was a really high-quality game. The first half in particular was two good sides going hard at it, there were really long periods with the ball in play, and we looked comfortable and in control throughout that first half.

"We were the best team in the first half, they were the best team and looked comfortable and in control in the second half, but I think we probably had a little bit more desperation when it mattered.

"People talk about the way we play quite a lot, but the way we played today was tough and full of character. Anyone looking at that would have a lot of respect for our players on their efforts today."

Catalans head coach Steve McNamara:

"Over the whole 80 minutes, we really did a lot of damage to ourselves in the first half. We had to defend well in that first half just to stay in the contest.

"Our defence enabled us to get enough field position but we lacked enough quality in attack. We need to find a bit more in attack.

"The players have given everything in the first 10 rounds, we've not been able to rotate many people because of injuries. We've had so many things to deal with."

Salford Red Devils: Brierley, Williams, Costello, Cross, Burgess, Croft, Sneyd, Dupree, Ackers, Vuniyayawa, Watkins, Stone, Partington.

Interchanges: Ormondroyd, Atkin, Wright, Longstaff.

Catalans Dragons: Mourgue, Johnstone, Laguerre, Romano, Davies, Keighran, Tomkins, McMeeken, McIlorum, Navarrete, Whitley, Seguier, Garcia.

Interchanges: Goudemand, Taukeiaho, Dezaria, Zenon.

Referee: Chris Kendall.

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