Rhino charge stuns Reds

Leeds Rhinos 52-14 Salford City Reds

Headingley, Friday August 10

A nine-try hammering at the hands of Leeds saw Salford slip further into the bowels of the Super League on Friday.

The beleaguered Reds were bludgeoned into submission by a merciless Leeds who imposed complete dominance over the Super League strugglers.

Salford found themselves on the back foot from the start, with rookie wing Ryan Hall scampering across the line for the Rhinos after just four minutes.

The twinkle-toed 19-year-old academy product demonstrated some delightful footwork and blistering pace to score after latching on to a neat Gareth Ellis reverse pass.

Six minutes later prop Jamie Thackray picked up a grubber from influential hooker Matt Diskin to cross for Leeds' second.

And on 12 minutes Kylie Leuluai, whose uncle Philip Leuluai was playing in Salford's second row, barged over from close range thanks to a clever pass from Diskin.

It was Diskin again who engineered Leeds fourth, putting centre Keith Senior over in the 22nd minute.

To Salford's credit, they never gave up and Stuart Littler claimed an individual try shortly before the half-hour mark following up to ground the ball after hacking forward twice.

Leeds however were quick to reassert their authority, with Danny McGuire pouncing for the Rhino's fifth in the dying moments of the first half.

Magical

After the break it took just two minutes before Clinton Toopi outfoxed Salford's overworked defence with a magical underarm pass to send Scott Donald racing clear.

The Reds lifted the gloom briefly on 48 minutes when Luke Dorn crossed in the corner for Salford's second try.

But John Wilshere was unable to add the extra points, missing his second conversion of the match.

Thackray and McGuire each claimed their second tries with scores under the posts before Andy Coley crossed for the Reds, allowing Wilshere to redeem himself and claim the two points.

The Rhinos however were not finished as Lauitiiti claimed his brace with a late score from close range.

With skipper Kevin Sinfield having already converted seven tries Jordan Tansey was given the final word by adding the final points.

Three points adrift at bottom of the table and with just four games in which to dig themselves out of trouble, the outlook is bleak for coach Shaun McRae and his men.