Depleted Featherstone have no answers as Salford run in 13 tries

Rovers scored in the first minute, but were 44-12 behind at half-time and conceded 13 tries in total.

Featherstone coach Jon Sharp admitted his “patched-up” part-time team were no match for their Super League hosts, despite making the perfect start.

“We wanted to start well and said it was important we put pressure on the opposition,” Sharp said. “But starting well is not just about scoring an early try. Sometimes it’s about building pressure and completing your sets.

“We completed two of our first six sets and didn’t apply any pressure at all on the opposition.

“That gave them energy and they were very good; they were big and strong and aggressive when they had the ball. They were far too much for us to handle at times.”

Jordan Baldwinson finished off a flowing move in the opening set of the game, but Salford rallied with tries by Junior Sa’u (2), Weller Hauraki, Josh Jones and Daniel Vidot.

Jack Ormondroyd pulled a try back for Rovers and Kyle Briggs landed his second conversion, but Niall Evalds, Ben Murdoch-Masila and Logan Tomkins touched down before the interval.

Josh Walters scored Rovers’ third try early in the second half, but it was one-way traffic after that as Olsi Krasniqi, Hauraki, Michael Dobson, Murdoch-Masila and Jones completed Salford’s try tally.

Gareth O’Brien added nine conversions in a win which kept alive Salford’s hopes of finishing third in the Qualifiers and sending Huddersfield Giants and Hull KR into the million pound game.

Salford Red Devils: Evalds, Vidot, Jones, Sa’u, J Griffin, O’Brien, Dobson, Burgess, Tomkins, G Griffin, Murdoch-Masila, Hauraki, Flanagan. Substitutes: Krasniqi, A Walne, Lui, Kopczak.

Featherstone Rovers: Craven, Duckworth, Hardman, Taulapapa, Briscoe, Briggs, Thackery, D Griffin, Ellis, Baldwinson, Walters, Ormondroyd, Davies. Substitutes: Day, Cooper, Snitch, Foster.

Referee: C Campbell (Widnes).