Leigh go second with dominant win at Salford

Leigh Leopards' Owen Trout is tackled by Salford Red Devils

Betfred Super League

Salford (0) 6

Tries: Shorrocks Goals: Morgan

Leigh (18) 28

Tries: Badrock (2), Towse, McIntosh, Davis, Charnley Goals: O'Brien (2)

Leigh Leopards moved into second place in the Super League table and within three points of leaders Hull KR with a convincing 28-6 win at Salford Red Devils.

A sixth victory of the season meant Adrian Lam's in-form outfit leapfrogged Wigan Warriors.

Although Wigan can go back second when they play Hull FC on Sunday, this was a statement victory indicating the Leopards could be contenders for league honours this season.

Two tries from Andrew Badrock, plus one each from AJ Towse, Darnell McIntosh, Matt Davis and Josh Charnley in a dominant display proved enough to deliver a comfortable victory.

Charnley's late contribution, a brilliant execution in the corner a minute from time, moved him level with the legendary Leeds Rhino Alan Smith on 311 career tries.

Lam's outfit are already into the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup where they will face Warrington Wolves and, although at times a lack of discipline and some wayward goal kicking will be a concern to their coach, they are more than capable going forward.

Lachlan Lam was at the heart of most of their incisive moves with two try assists, one pass and the other a perfectly-weighted grubber kick that McIntosh touched down.

His try added to two early efforts from Badrock and Towse that saw Leigh put the game halfway to bed after 20 minutes.

Salford, who have now lost eight of their nine matches including four of them to nil, conceded a fourth try to go in at the break 18-0 down.

Things did not immediately improve after the break either with Jayden Nikorima gifting possession to Leigh and Davis punishing the mistake for a fifth Leopards try.

Yet to their credit the home side tried to stay on the front foot and were rewarded with a try of their own, Nikorima breaking the gain line inside his own half and feeding Joe Shorrocks who went over close to the posts.

Charnley's late intervention stretched the lead back out as he went level with Smith in 28th place in the list of rugby league's all-time try scorers - and 10 behind outright leader Ryan Hall with 248 Super League tries.

Leigh Leopards coach Adrian Lam speaking to BBC Sport:

"Magic Weekend will be round 10, we are over a third of the way through the season and in second spot which is nice considering the injuries we have and that we still have a lot of growth in the group.

"I'm really happy about that and I'm sure our fans are as well.

"We were one out of nine at this stage last year so we are aware that things can change if you don't keep our feet grounded though. We have worked hard to be here so we will keep maintaining that."

Salford: Hodgson, McIntosh, Badrock, Brand, Charnley, O'Brien, Lam, Trout, McNamara, Mulhern, O'Neill, Hughes, Liu

Interchanges: Brogan, Wilde, Davis, Dwyer

Leigh: Brierley, Connell, Marsters, Vaughan, Thewlis, Nikorima, Mellor, Ormondroyd, Davis, Makin, Hellewell, Shorrocks, Wilson

Interchanges: Hill, Sangare, Morgan, Warren

Referee: Liam Rush