Two converted tries in the last five minutes of this keenly fought encounter, gave the visiting Hopwood College side victory in what was the final U19s’ fixture of 2018.
The fact that the two sides are jointly linked together in terms of sharing facilities, gave the match an extra bit of bite, as both sides endeavoured to impose their supremacy over their friends and rivals, but it was the visitors who got off to the brighter start, when they crossed for two unanswered tries to pull themselves twelve points ahead.
The Red Devils did eventually find their rhythm, however, and started to pull themselves back into the game with two well taken scores.
The first came from prop forward Will Toone, who used his size and strength to crash over between the posts and give Connor Law a straight forward conversion attempt, by which he successfully halved Hopwood’s lead.
Within a few minutes that lead had been all but eroded away when Law showed some fine footwork in the right-hand corner to fox the defence and score. His conversion attempt on this one and only occasion failed to find its mark, and Hopwood not only hung on to that slender two-point lead, they improved upon it with yet another converted try.
Just before half time, however, Law, yet again, reproduced some of his clever footwork to cross in the other corner, and this time was successful from out wide with the conversion attempt, which brought the half time score to 16-18.
Coach, Danny Barton, was consequently able to speak with a much happier dressing-room than might otherwise have been the case, to encourage the lads to build on the momentum they had built up.
“We had got off to a slow start,” he acknowledges, “but the lads had stuck to their task and done really well to force their way back into things, so we used the time to discuss how we would be able to take further control.”
Whatever the details of this were, they certainly payed dividends because, after ten minutes of attrition, a break down the wing by Law found hooker Connor Aspey supporting down the centre, and he finished off grounding under the posts. Law added on the conversion for good measure, to give the Red Devils a 22-18 lead.
Sadly, the time, over which they held onto that lead, was measured in seconds rather than minutes, for, owing to an error at the subsequent restart from which Hopwoodre gained possession, they levelled the score with an unconverted try.
“That misfortune took a lot out of our lads, and they didn’t really manage to get themselves back up after it,” Danny concedes.
Hopwood, on the other hand, had got the boost they needed, and used the remaining time to good effect by scoring two further tries to take the spoils.
Nevertheless, there were enough positives in the Salford performance for Danny to draw upon and console his charges.
“It was a good game throughout between two evenly matched teams, in which our lads displayed clear evidence of the improvements they have made since the sides last met early in the season,” he assesses. “It was eventually down to some naivety which was our undoing in the later stages of the game.”
The youth, and lack of size of the Salford players, were once again telling factors, and remain issues which only the march of time will adjust.
“Despite this we matched them physically, but at the end it was a couple of Hopwood players, in key positions who were able to use their size and force their way over against our tiring defence – tiring as a result of the effort they had put in throughout the game as a whole.”
Now with a couple of weeks’ respite over the festive period, the players can recoup some energy, in readiness for their return to take part in the knock-out cup competition, which kicks off, immediately upon the resumption, in January,
SALFORD: Josh Stafford, Connor Law, Lewis Roberts, Joe Lawlor, Will Timmins, Callum Hughes, Keiron Prescott, Austin Downham, Connor Aspey, Will Toone, Will Mills, Lewis Zammit, Sam Eyres.
REPLACEMENTS: Dan Goddard, Jak Fairbrother, Josh Bentley, Ben Whitely.
Tag: Salford Red Devils U19s
Salford Red Devils U19’s succumb to adverse weather conditions
The relentless driving rain, which had precipitated the relocation of the Salford U19s’ home game with Barrow, on Wednesday afternoon, continued to take its toll on the Red team of the Cat 3 squad, by producing playing conditions with which they found the utmost difficulty in coping.
With their own field at the A J Bell completely under water, it was only thanks to the great spirited assistance of our good friends at St Peter’s RC School, Manchester, who most willingly sprang to our rescue by loaning their 4G pitch for the purposes of our fulfilling the fixture.
“It was a tough day for everyone concerned, with us having to decamp to the other side of Manchester, which was a considerable task in itself, but we are extremely grateful to St Peter’s, and our good friend, Jim Dixon in particular, for coming to our aid, and at such short notice,” coach, Danny Barton recounts.
Just as all this had affected Danny, so, too, it will also have affected the players themselves, with the whole build up to the match being disrupted and consequently different to their normal procedures.
“Not only that, the conditions far from suited us, whilst Barrow found them ideal for the physical dominance of their pack to assert itself,” Danny assesses,
“For ourselves, we just have to put it down to another piece of the players’ development. All I ask is that they stick to working at the processes we have been putting in place, and they will definitely benefit from doing so, as time goes on.”
The game was barely five minutes through, when the visitors swept in for two converted tries, but the Red Devils responded, with a try from hooker, Connor Aspey, who scooted through the defensive line from a play-the-ball, selling a neat dummy on the way.
Unfortunately, goal kicker, Connor Law, was unable to convert, and the Cumbrians proceeded to exploit their dominance by running in a further two tries before scrum half, Keiran Prescott, scored a fine individual try to pull back another four points, and bring the half time score to 24-8 in the visitors’ favour.
With first teamers, Rob Lui, Joey Lussick and Jackson Hastings, having made the journey across Manchester to support the lads from the touchline, there were hopes that the Salford players would make a quick response, but the second half belonged entirely to Barrow, with their strong powerful forwards taking complete control and forcing their hosts into errors both with, and without, the ball.
Centre, Joe Lawlor, showed some outstanding defence and deservedly was acknowledged as man of the match for Salford.
Next week sees another home game for the Reds, when they play Hopwood, in a return fixture, following their early season, narrow, away defeat. It will be an ideal test for the players to show how much they have learned and improved in the intervening couple of months.
Academy | Tough openers for both U19s teams
BARROW 36 SALFORD RED GROUP 4
There may not be a Super League presence in Cumbria these days, but at Youth level, the visit up there is still exceedingly tough especially on the back of an arduous journey, whilst a warm welcome awaits every player once they set foot on the pitch. For the Red contingent of our College U19s squad, last Wednesday, it was a most challenging of starts to their season.
“A two and a half hour journey at night time in nothing other than a minibus isn’t the best preparation for any game,” claims Coach, Danny Barton,” but the lads really showed up for one another.
“They are still only a young team, so we were up against it playing on a quite narrow pitch, at Askam, with a slope on it, and a crowd of two hundred and fifty in attendance.”
With this being, for the vast majority of Salford players, their first encounter at this level, it is unsurprising that they were a little taken by surprise at the speed, intensity, and physicality, at which they were having to contend, in the early stages.
“After they had got over that initial shock, they quickly grew into the game, and in the second half were able to pull back a 22-4 half time deficit to get themselves within twelve points. All our forwards stood up to the Barrow pack, which was a really big test of them because they were up against some very large individuals.
Salford’s points came from a total of five, two of which were scored by hooker Connor Aspey who, Danny insists, had an outstanding game.
“The first of them was a long-range effort which came from a break by captain, Will Mills, who found Connor in support on his outside, and once he got the ball no-one was going to catch him. The second came after a quick play-the-ball from which Connor made a break, turned the fullback inside out, and scored under the posts.”
Sadly, in the most unsavoury incident in the whole match, Connor was the victim of a biting offence for which a Barrow player was sent off.
Salford’s other scorers were loose forward Dan Goddard from his own scoot as dummy half, Will Mills, and Sam Ayres.
“I was really proud of every player in the whole team and of their efforts out there on the pitch, and they now know what they are going to be up against throughout the season,” is Danny’s happy conclusion to their first outing.
SALFORD BLACK GROUP 14 CARMEL 40
Despite taking an early lead in their home match, the Black section of the College U19s found an even more overwhelming challenge awaiting them, once the visiting Carmel College got into their stride.
“It was a typical start-of-the-season performance, with players still getting to know one another, and one or two of them even playing in new positions,“ Danny explains.
“Centre, Ellis Snelgrove got us off to a fine start with a really good try down the left wing from inside his own half, but then the quality of the Carmel team, which you would expect from any St Helens side, started to come through, particularly on their left edge, to put them on top.
“Nevertheless, our lads never gave up, and we got another two tries in the second half, the last from hooker, Chad Wrigley, who dived over from dummy half.”
One of the most notable incidents in the game was a tremendous try-saving tackle from left winger, Will Timmins, who flew across from his wing to crash tackle a would-be Carmel scorer two or three metres from the line. That tackle was every bit as good, and important, as a try because it was worth four points, in itself.
“The game has given us plenty to work on; things which we want to be bringing into our next match, on Wednesday, against Warrington,” is Danny’s overall assessment.
Academy | U19s fixtures confirmed until December
The Salford Red Devils U19 Academy teams have had their fixtures up until December 2018 confirmed.
The Black team will open their campaign at home to Carmel while the Red team will make the long trip up to Barrow.
The Red team’s first home fixture will come on 10th October against Huddersfield while the Black team’s first away game will come on the same day as they travel to Winstanley College.
A full list of the Salford Red Devils Academy fixtures can be seen below:
26th September
Salford Red Devils U19 Blacks vs Carmel College.
Barrow vs Salford Red Devils U19 Reds.
3rd October
Salford Red Devils U19 Blacks vs Warrington.
Hopwood Hall vs Salford Red Devils U19 Reds.
10th October
Salford Red Devils U19 Reds vs Huddersfield.
Winstanley College vs Salford Red Devils U19 Blacks.
17th October
Wakefield vs Salford Red Devils U19 Reds.
Wigan and Leigh College vs Salford Red Devils U19 Blacks.
7th November
Halifax vs Salford Red Devils U19 Reds.
21st November
Salford Red Devils U19 Reds vs Pontefract.
Riverside vs Salford Red Devils U19 Blacks.
28th November
Warrington vs Salford Red Devils U19 Reds.
Warrington vs Salford Red Devils U19 Blacks.
5th December
Salford Red Devils U19 Reds vs Barrow.
Salford Red Devils U19 Blacks vs Riverside.
Academy | Dan Goddard on way to Serbia with Ireland
Salford Red Devils are delighted to confirm that U19s player Dan Goddard has been selected to represent Ireland U19s in the upcoming U19 European Championships in Serbia.
Goddard is the third Salford Red Devils U19 player now headed to Belgrade alongside Welsh duo William Mills and Matthew Jones who were named last week. Read more about that here.
Player Performance Manager Danny Barton said: “Obviously, we’re thrilled for Dan following his inclusion in the Ireland squad.
“Dan is a really good player who has had a terrific season. His work ethic and attitude are second to none and that has been rewarded with his selection.
“It’s great to have three players headed to the U19 European Championships in August and I think it just demonstrates the quality of young lads we have here at Salford Red Devils.”
The full squad is as follows:
Luke Findlow (Ince Rose Bridge), Ryan Curran (Athy Sharks), Conor Smyth (Athy Sharks), James Cromie (Belfast Stags), Zack Fellows (Midland Hurricanes), Josh Basthill (Belfast Met Scholars), Fiach Millward (Athy Sharks), Paul McGookin (Belfast Stags), Sam Cullen (Athy Sharks), Ronan Michael (Longhorns RL), Callum O’Neill (Widnes Vikings), Joe Togher (Hindley), Charlie Donnelly (Dublin City Exiles), Josh MacNamee (Longhorns RL), Shalun Carey (Longhorns RL), John Why (Galway Tribesmen), Jordan McKibbin (Portadown Pumas), Kevin Varga (Longhorns RL), Andrew Smyth (Belfast Met Scholars), James Mulvaney (Longhorns RL), Sam O’Sullivan (Galway Tribesmen), Gareth Gardiner (Belfast Met Scholars), Dan Goddard (Salford Red Devils).
Academy | William Mills and Matthew Jones heading to Serbia
Salford Red Devils U19s William Mills and Matthew Jones have been selected in Wales’ final U19s squad that will compete in the European Championships in Serbia this August.
The U19s European Championships in Belgrade will take place between the 5th and 11th of August with Wales taking on Russia in the first round of the eight-team knockout tournament. Wales could meet England in the semi-finals.
Wales Under 19 Head Coach Anthony Walker said: “The training camp was really successful. All the boys come with a great attitude and they were a pleasure to work with.
“We tried to make the camp something that they may of not experienced before and making it as professional as possible. Phil Joseph had a real big emphasis on prehab and recovery, he arranged for masseurs to come to the hotel on the evening and brought in supplementation.
“Picking the squad was hard, I’d love to take everyone who trained but we couldn’t and the way the tournament is set out there are no easy games, they get tougher and tougher as we go on so we have to take the right balance of players.
“The guys we have selected to be captain and vice-captain oozed quality and respect from the rest of the team. They may not be the loudest and biggest talkers but when they did speak everyone listened and they play with leadership.”
Wales won the competition in its last incarnation as an U18 tournament beating France, England and Czech Republic.
The full squad is as follows:
Adam Young (Aber Valley Wolves), Cobi Green (Bradford Bulls), James Bartlett (Cardiff Blue Dragons), Morgan Rowlands (Cardiff Blue Dragons), Will Lynch (Leigh Miners Rangers), Cai Ellis (Newcastle Thunder), James McGurk (Newcastle Thunder), Jacob Hitchcox (North Wales Crusaders A), William Mills (Salford Red Devils), Finn Swift (Pilkington Recs/St Helens), Elliot Jenkins (St Helens), Matthew Jones (Salford Red Devils), Jake Cannon (South Wales Rabbitohs), Ben Hunter (Unattached), Lewis Hall (Warrington Wolves), Macauley Harris (West Wales Raiders), Ellis Simon (West Wales Raiders), James Smith (West Wales Raiders), Fraser Stroud (West Wales Raiders), Aneurin Walker (West Wales Raiders), Billy Glover (Widnes Vikings).
Academy | Luis Roberts and Cian Rhys selected for Wales U16s
Salford Red Devils players Cian Rhys and Luis Roberts named in the Wales U16 29-man training squad with the hopes of featuring against England in September.
Both Cian Rhys and Luis Roberts had successful seasons with the Red Devils U16’s sides last season and Player Performance Manager Danny Barton wasn’t surprised by their inclusion.
Barton said: “We’re delighted that both Cian and Luis have been selected for the Wales U16’s training squad, they’ve both been terrific this season.
“Cian is a versatile player who occupied a number of roles very successfully throughout last season while Luis is a dangerous centre with an eye for the try-line.
“We are hoping that both will feature against England later in the year and experience international rugby league.”
The full squad is follows:
Benjamin Harris (Aber Valley Wolves), Shaun Webber (Cardiff Blue Dragons), Jac Lloyd, Immanuel Feyi-Aboso, David Yulu-Nzamba, George Sheppard (West Wales Raiders), Cian Rhys (Burtonwood Bulldogs/Salford Red Devils), Brynmor Bradley (London Broncos), Ewan Challenger (Cardiff Blue Dragons/West Wales Raiders), Ewan Badham, (Llanelli Knights/City of Hull), Ieaun Badham (Llanelli Knights/City of Hull), Morgan Jones, Harvey McDaid (Halton Farnworth Hornets/St Helens), Keenan McDaid (Halton Farnworth Hornets/St Helens), Lewis Gough, Cameron Samuel, Callum Penn (Torfaen Tigers), William Oates (Aber Valley Wolves), Luis Roberts (Hindley ARLFC/Salford Red Devils), Reilly Scriven (Torfaen Tigers), Kyle Huish (Aber Valley Wolves/Wigan Warriors), Jacob Lee (Aber Valley Wolves/Wigan Warriors), Ieuan Hancock (Torfaen Tigers), Joshua Atkinson (Wigan Warriors), Gwilym Evans, Iwan Johnes, Iwan Pyrs-Jones (Wigan Warriors), Trystan Rawlings (West Wales Raiders), Kieran Lewis.
The Tigers are in Town, but we’ll roar louder!
Tickets for our next home game against Castleford Tigers on Friday 13th July are available to purchase at the Club Ticket Office, over the phone or online here.
Danny Barton | “There’s a big focus from everyone at the Club on our youth”
Salford Red Devils Category Three U19’s side gathered for their first session ahead of the 2018-19 season earlier this week and Player Performance Manager Danny Barton is ‘excited’ to see the new talent progress.
Barton said: “Our first training session was fantastic.
“We’ve recruited really well when it comes to our 19s this season. We’ve got some really exciting kids on board with a lot of local talent some of whom have progressed through from our 16s.
“They’re all passionate about playing for Salford Red Devils and going as far as they can here at the Club and, maybe, even challenging for a position in the first team down the line.
“There’s a big focus from everyone at the Club on our youth at the moment.”
Danny Barton has been working closely with Director of Rugby and Operations Ian Blease and Salford Red Devils Head Coach Ian Watson and this has seen youngsters Sam Bardsley and Jack Ratcliffe begin training with the first team.
Barton said: “We’re all in the same mindset and we’re all local which really helps.
“It all seems to be coming together with Ian [Blease] as Director of Rugby and Ian [Watson] as Head Coach and we’re all looking to develop and further our youth development here at Salford Red Devils.
“I’d love to get someone into the first team within the next five years – that’s the goal.
“We had Jack [Ratcliffe] and Sam [Bardsley] down talking to the 19s earlier this week and discussing what it’s like training with the first team and I think some of the lads realised the opportunity they have in front of them.”
Barton’s Salford Red Devils Category Three U19s side have moved up a division for the 2018-19 season but the Player Performance Manager is confident his team can impress on the back of a restructuring of the league.
Barton said: “Fixtures for the 19s start in September but we’ll be heading into pre-season in the coming weeks.
“The lads have got some programmes from our conditioners, so they can come into pre-season fit and healthy and hopefully make an impact on the field this season.
“We are looking at having two teams at 19s this season with one team competing in the top division.
“I’m excited to see the lads progress here at Salford and I’m looking forward to getting the season underway.”
More information on the Salford Red Devils U19s fixtures will be made available nearer the beginning of their season.
The Tigers are in Town, but we’ll roar louder!
Tickets for our next home game against Castleford Tigers on Friday 13th July are available to purchase at the Club Ticket Office, over the phone or online here.
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