Tag: Hopwood Hall College

Salford Red Devils 10  Hopwood Hall 8                   Match Report

With a three-week gap since their last outing, which was exactly a month ago when they had entertained Wakefield, it is little wonder that the Salford U19s College Academy ‘Red’ team took some little time to get back up to speed, in this their return encounter with Hopwood Hall College.

A number of postponements, predominantly caused by adverse playing conditions, combined with the half term break, had clearly taken the edge of the Reds’ performance, and the visitors took advantage by sweeping to an eight-point lead, after thirty minutes.

Once they had managed to get on the scoreboard, shortly before half time, however, the Salford youngsters were gradually able to take control of proceedings, as they had done in their previous encounter at the home of the visitors, eventually going in front, fifteen minutes from the end.

The big difference, however, between this match, and the earlier, away encounter, was that on that previous occasion, Salford had had a strength in depth of forwards, on the bench.  This time, though, for various reasons there was a dearth of forward power, with the substitutes’ bench being comprised entirely of backs, some of whom were required to play in the forwards against a particularly big and powerful opposing pack, in order to spell members of the starting six.

Add to that the considerable loss of prop, Charlie Glover, ten minutes into the game, and the Salford side really looked up against it.  Step forward, fellow forward, Ewan Haynes, who, with his move up to prop, really took charge of the situation, leading from the front and inspiring his fellow forwards to follow suit, which, to their credit, they did.

The always reliable Jack Kenway, having moved from second row to loose-forward, took up cudgels alongside him, as did second rower, George Charnock, with some injection of running skills of his own individual style.  A special mention must also be given to centre-by-trade, Josh Wagstaffe.  Moved, quite early in the game, from his usual slot in the three-quarters into the forwards, he proceeded to put in hit after valuable hit-up, making much needed yardage, on each occasion.

It was fifteen minutes of arm-wrestle, before the visitors opened the scoring, the last five of which they had had Salford on the rack, desperately defending their line.  Just as it looked as though they had weathered the storm, with play having moved to the other end of the field, their defence was opened up by a clever passing-move.  A reverse pass, inside, created the first clean break of the afternoon, and a kick to their left corner saw their winger take the ball to cross for the first of their two unconverted tries.

Their lead was doubled, fourteen minutes later, when an overlap was worked, this time on their right, where their winger was unmarked and had a clear run to the line.

Sideways runs across the face of an opponent’s defensive lines invariably seem to indicate a lack of attacking ideas – except when George Charnock undertakes one.  Twice, in the first half, he cut inside from the left flank, and on each occasion the angle of his left to right run caused confusion in the opposition’s line.  The first time it led to right winger, Myles Paul, getting over in the corner only for the final pass to be adjudged forward.

There was no such disappointment, six minutes from half time, when Charnock set up Josh Higgin, who timed his run, straight at the line, to perfection, taking Charnock’s defence-splitting pass with ease.  Crucially, Jack Stevens added the conversion to bring the Red Devils to within two points of their opponents at the interval.

The second half was a hard, uncompromising war of attrition, with a number of stoppages for injuries sustained in the intensity of the conflict.  Both teams had tries disallowed; Salford’s when fullback Nathan Connell was adjudged to have been held up over the line, while Hopwood Hall’s would-be scorer lost the ball as he went to ground it.

The one successful attempt went the way of the hosts, on sixty-five minutes, thanks to Kenway’s excellent kick into the right corner, where Paul was able to make up for his earlier disappointment by taking the ball on the run and scoring in the corner.  With Stevens’s conversion attempt going wide, the Red Devils had to continue to fend off further incursions towards their line to ensure their slender lead remained intact.

With a three-week break, over the Christmas period, the players will next be turning their attention to the Cup, with their first round tie being against Wigan & Leigh College, at Leigh Sports Village, on Wednesday, 12^th January, 2022.

SALFORD:

Nathan Connell, Myles Paul, Josh Wagstaff, George Charnock, Alec Walton, Adam Tierney, Jack Stevens, Josh Higgin, Will Fernly, Charlie Glover, Jack Kenway, Louis Lord, Euan Haynes

Substitutes:

Mikey Gillan, Chris Eaves, Oliver Burgess, Ellis Kelly, Linden Taylor, Billy Wadeson

Hopwood Hall 4 Salford Red Devils 34                    Match Report

Salford U 19s College Academy secured their third consecutive in this their first away match of the season, with a hard-fought, but comprehensive, victory over Hopwood Hall College. A first glance at the scoreline might give the impression of an easy ride for the Red Devils, but, in fact, this was far from the case with the home side providing the most physical opponents the Reds have encountered so far this season.

Indeed, for the opening ten minutes, the visitors were put under considerable pressure with Hopwood commanding possession with a number of back-to-back sets as a result of goal-line drop-outs, set restarts, and Salford handling errors.  This, consequently, led to superior field position, which enabled them to launch onslaught after onslaught on the Red Devils’ try-line.

Nevertheless, the line remained intact for the duration of this period, and, in fact, right through to the half time interval, thanks to some magnificent defensive work, during which all the players put their heart and soul into supporting each other throughout.

It is often said that defence wins games, and this is because after forging wave after wave of attacks, the opposition begin to run out of ideas, and frustration sets in, which is exactly what happened on Wednesday.  Although they played the game in the most robust manner, Hopwood were not an overly big side, which enabled the Salford pack to soak up the pressure, and then, when the opportunity presented itself, to turn the tables with a score themselves.

Nothing can be more disheartening than, after ten minutes complete dominance but with nothing to show for it, to go behind with a try on the first foray into your twenty-metre area, which is how the Salford side responded, and thereby turn the game on its head.

It was prop, Euan Haynes, who, on this occasion, did the honours, charging over between the posts giving Jack Stevens a straightforward conversion attempt and putting the visitors six points ahead.  They did not leave it at that, however, backing it up with two more converted scores following quickly on.

In an almost carbon copy of his break in their last outing against Hull, scrum half, Jack Stevens, made a tremendous break through the middle, to set up the supporting Nathan Connell for the second of the afternoon, with Stevens, himself, dummying his way through from close range, for the third.

That, however, was to be his last involvement in the game, as a knock to his shoulder, in the act of scoring, prompted his withdrawal from the field, leaving Jack Kenway to take over the kicking duties for the rest of the match.  The loss of such an influential organiser and incisive attacker was, understandably, a considerable setback to the Reds’ attacking play, which brought an abrupt end to their scoring for the remainder of the half.

Almost as if with second sight that this would happen, coach, Danny Barton, had included no less than three halfbacks, Henry Moran, Adam Tierney, and Billy Wadeson, on the bench, and although it took each of them some little time to adjust to the role Stevens had vacated, they each grew in confidence, as the game progressed, and eventually acquitted themselves with increasing aptitude.

An eighteen-point lead, whilst being quite commanding, is not a winning margin until late on, and so it was all to the good that the next team to score was Salford, which they did on three further occasions, with Haynes and Connell doubling their half time tallies, and winger Myles Paul getting over in the corner shortly before the end.

The game resilience, which their hosts had mustered throughout the entire encounter, was deservedly rewarded with a score of their own, when they opened up the Salford right edge to score too far out for a successful conversion.

It was the calibre of his players’ character and determination, throughout the game as a whole, which most delighted Danny Barton.

“Despite scoring six tries, we were never going to run away with this game,” he remarked, “and any slight let up in our intensity or concentration would have let Hopwood back into it, because they competed all the way through.  As it was, we kept out focus and just stood up to whatever was thrown at us, whilst overcoming setbacks and then taking our opportunities, when they presented themselves.”

Next Week’s Fixture v Barrow Away (Craven Park) KO Time To Be Confirmed