Salford trailed 12-8 despite Leeds having two men sin-binned, but roared back to claim a memorable victory; Friday's other Betfred Super League match saw Catalans Dragons make it five wins in a row by beating Hull KR 18-10
Saturday 19 March 2022 08:04, UK
We round up Friday's action in the Betfred Super League which saw Salford Red Devils win a thriller against Leeds Rhinos and Catalans Dragons extend their winning run with victory over Hull Kingston Rovers...
Three tries inside the final 12 minutes saw Salford Red Devils end a run of three straight defeats and inflict more misery on Leeds Rhinos with a 24-12 win in Friday's Super League match at the AJ Bell Stadium.
Mikolaj Oledzki and Ash Handley went over to give Leeds a slender 10-8 advantage at the break, with Ken Sio's converted try and a penalty from Marc Sneyd keeping Salford within touching distance.
The Rhinos managed to see out a period with Bodene Thompson in the sin-bin and even increased their lead with a penalty from the boot of Rhyse Martin after Zane Tetevano was shown a yellow card for a hit on Sio which forced the winger from the field.
However, the Red Devils burst into life with tries from Chris Atkin and Elijah Taylor to turn the game on its head, with Ryan Brierley adding some gloss to the final score in the closing stages.
The Salford comeback was kick-started by some quick thinking from winger Joe Burgess. He took a quick 20-metre restart and raced through the heart of the Rhinos defence before the ball was worked to the right flank, where emergency winger Atkin - on in place of Sio - was on hand to finish off.
Loose forward Taylor powered over from close range from a short Sneyd pass moments later and, with the game almost over, full-back Brierley raced under the posts after taking an inside pass from King Vuniyayawa. With player of the match Sneyd converting all three, the scoreline had an unlikely look after such a tense first hour or so.
Leeds, comprehensively beaten at home by Hull FC in their last outing, thought they had opened the scoring in the third minute, but Handley's effort was ruled out by the video referee for double movement.
Soon after though, a grubber kick by scrum-half Aidan Sezer was spilled by his opposite number Sneyd and prop Oledzki was quickest to react, touching down for a try which Papua New Guinea international Martin converted.
The scores were level in the 19th minute when Sneyd and Brodie Croft combined before Brierley spotted Leeds were short of numbers on the right side, kicking ahead for Sio to grab his eighth try of the season, with Sneyd converting
With 11 minutes of the first half remaining, the Rhinos regained the lead. Walker's long pass out wide caught Salford short and Handley was there to take the pass and score, though Martin could not add the conversion.
The Red Devils ended the half brightly and put the Leeds defence under pressure with a combination of penalties and six-again calls. The pressure finally told on Leeds as Thompson was sent to the sin bin for lying on and Sneyd kicked the resultant penalty, but aside from Martin's penalty chances were few and far between after the break until the dramatic finish.
Catalans Dragons continued their early season progress to make it five wins from five with a hard-fought victory over Hull KR in Perpignan.
Rovers resisted the Dragons for long periods in the game and at half-time it was all-square at 10-10, with the Dragons leaving it late until a second-half try by Joe Chan sealed the points for the home team.
Catalans scored first with a ninth-minute penalty as Rovers held on too long in the tackle in front of their own posts, Sam Tomkins making it 2-0 with the simple conversion.
Then winger Fouad Yaha forced his way over in the left corner and Tomkins was on target again to extend the hosts' lead.
Catalans lost stand-off Mitchell Pearce midway through the first half as he was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle and Rovers struck immediately with a try for winger Ryan Hall in the left corner after great handling from Jordan Abdull and Shaun Kenny-Dowall.
Sam Kasiano's introduction from the bench had an immediate impact. The giant Dragons substitute drove forward and forced a penalty from Rovers, which Tomkins successfully converted.
But the return of Pearce from the sin-bin only resulted in a loose pass to Hall, who raced 70 metres to set up the platform for Kenny-Dowall to force his way over just before half-time and Abdull added the extras to make it 10-10 at the interval.
Dylan Napa's return from the bench seemed to lift the Dragons and they pushed forward to allow Pearce to rebound a grubber kick off the left post into the hands of Chan, who picked the ball up and scored, with Tomkins adding the conversion.
The teams take a break from league action when they enter the Betfred Challenge Cup at the sixth round stage next week, with Salford kicking things off away to Wigan Warriors on Friday, March 25 (7.35pm kick-off).
Leeds host Castleford Tigers in another all-Super League clash on Saturday, March 26 (4.30pm), while the same day sees Catalans and Hull KR hosting Betfred Championship opponents in Featherstone Rovers and Leigh Centurions respectively (both 3pm).
