Widnes 10-46 Salford: Nine tries for Red Devils

Match Stats

Widnes tries: Thompson (42), Hanbury (76)
Conversions: Bridge (76)

Salford tries: Tasi (13), Johnson (17), Griffin (21), Murdoch-Masila (24), Welham (37), Carney (39), Dobson (54), Lui (65), O'Brien (68)
Conversions: O'Brien (13,54), Dobson (24,37,68)

Match Report

Sensational Salford hit the afterburners to produce their best display of the season so far as they demolished Widnes with nine tries in a 46-10 victory.

Ian Watson's side carded an opening 40 minutes of flawless rugby league, touching down six times and inflicting the 64th home point without reply on sorry Widnes, after Castleford had hit them for 34 two weeks previously.

There was little let-up after the break either and on the night nine different Salford players crossed the whitewash.

If Salford look the dark horses of this year's Super League, Widnes appear to be in freefall under Denis Betts, the coach who is still looking for a win this year.

The writing was on the wall right from the off. Salford made an electric start to the game and they should have been four points to the good after some slick hands put Justin Carney clear but the big Australian's effort was chalked off for a forward pass.

It did not take the visitors long to register one that counted, however, as Widnes' Rhys Hanbury made the mistake of being caught on the last tackle in midfield.

The error led to another Salford charge and when Robert Lui switched the play inside, the marauding Lama Tasi was not going to be stopped from close range.

Some more flimsy defence, this time on the Vikings' left, resulted in another score as the ball went through the hands of Michael Dobson and Gareth O'Brien before Greg Johnson finished off out wide.

The tries kept coming from Watson's men. Wave after wave the visitors hit Widnes and George Griffin helped himself to an easy touchdown.

At 14-0 the signs were extremely worrying for the home side, especially after they lost playmaker, Aaron Heremaia, with a concussion.

Minutes later, one-time Widnes target Ben Murdoch-Masila powered over for another simple try. O'Brien tagged on the extras to inflict more pain on the rudderless Vikings.

Betts' side could not deal with the aggressive approach of the Red Devils and they could have had another one on the half-hour mark had Lui's pass to Tasi been timed better.

The men in red nearly had their fifth try of the night when O'Brien connected with Junior Sa'u but the Samoan's pass to Carney was batted down by his opposite number, Corey Thompson.

The tries kept rolling in as much as the Vikings were dropping off tackles and the trio of O'Brien, Sau and Dobson were at their marauding best again when they left the Widnes defence flat-footed to give Justin Carney a walk-in.

As Vikings fans headed for the exit at the break, the ones who stayed were treated to a nice try as Danny Craven's long, looping pass found Thompson, who finished off in the corner.

Matters were not helped, however, when Jordan Johnstone, the only Vikings player to leave the field with any credibility, was substituted after suffering a blow to the head.

Watson eventually threw on ex-Gold Coast Titans half-back Todd Carney and he was involved in back play that led to Sa'u sending in Dobson for a deserved try.

O'Brien's conversion made it 4-36 and it was simply a question of how many more they would run in.

Lui was next to cross with a dummy and then O'Brien strolled in. Hanbury grabbed a late consolation but it did not paper over the cracks.

Match Reaction

Salford coach Ian Watson: "We felt we came up short in not backing up performances, and we want to prove we are a team that needs to be taken seriously this year.

"The way we played the first half was pretty good. We played some silky stuff.

"It was a really impressive performance. Robert Lui was outstanding. He's played everywhere and has scored. We've got (into) this competition now and we look strong.

"It's nice to reward the fans as it was a good away support tonight. We'll look forward to going to Saints and playing some good stuff. We want to show that we are a team that deserves the great support we had at Widnes."

Widnes boss Denis Betts: "We look soft at the moment. It doesn't look like the side we know we can be.

"Losing players through injury doesn't help but conceding 46 points at this level is too many. That first half was just not nice.

"We have to work hard and it's my job to get them better. There's only one group to turn it around and that's the one in there. The group in the changing room has to turn this as we can't get 30 players in.

"Leigh will come at us and we can't feel sorry for ourselves. We have to get back out there and work at it.

"There is no magic formula - we just have to get better."