Star date: 18th October 2020

LEEDS RHINOS 17 SALFORD RED DEVILS 16

Salford Red Devils only just lost out to Leeds Rhinos in a close and thrilling Challenge Cup Final yesterday. The Salford Star's Gareth Lyons was one of the few to actually attend the match and he reports "The players gave their all, which is all we can ask..."

See Gareth's report and photos click here...

Leeds Rhinos 17 Salford Red Devils 16
Coral Challenge Cup 2020
Saturday 17th October 2020
Wembley Stadium

A Detour Into History
To be brutally honest the Red's record in the Challenge Cup before today was pretty shocking; seven finals, six defeats, including three where we did not score and with one glorious victory when the great Don Bradman presented the cup to Gus Risman. Four finals were before WW1, two more in the 1930s and a solitary appearance post WW2 in 1969; and nothing since then until today. In fact around fifteen years ago I was able to hold the Challenge Cup itself, unfortunately our sole victory in 1937-38, was so long ago the club's name had mostly worn off the list of winners on the cup's plinth. In fact the other teams based in the area have won this trophy more than Salford. Swinton three times, and the defunct Broughton Rangers twice. For those who may be interested, Broughton Rangers played at Wheater's Field, which is now Wheater's Crescent, Wheater's Street and Wheater's Terrace in Broughton, while they also played at the Cliff.

Back To Today
Last year's brilliant Super League season for the Red Devils culminated in a Grand Final defeat, and my feeling at Old Trafford last October was that so many fans were happy to be in a major final that the result was of almost no importance. Whilst the Reds tried and competed, their kicking game let them down and, being blunt, they didn't get the rub of the green in the decisions. St Helens were the better team and deserved to win, but I felt, and I may be totally wrong, that the Reds had played their final the week before when defeating Wigan to book their place in the Grand Final. 
That was October 2019, but come October 2020 we found ourselves in another final, the Challenge Cup the most famous rugby league trophy and one we have only won once. As last year, the Reds were the bookies' underdogs, against a Leeds team higher in the table and who are able to spend much more on players than us.              
 
Salford fielded their strongest team, only missing Dan Sarginson from the first-17, a victim of COVID. Leeds themselves were at full strength. To be fair, Leeds had much more of the territory in the first half to lead at the break by 12 points to 6. A tight opening ten minutes saw little in the way of clear-cut action. But on twelve minutes lovely work down the Leeds right saw Tom Briscoe sneak in at the corner, with the ever-reliable Rhys Martin converting from the touch-line. (6-0).

The Red Devils hit back with a wonderful length of the field effort by Welsh wing wizard Rhyse Williams, who ran the length of the field after brilliant work, with Kallum Watkins taking a high kick, quickly getting the ball away to Tui Lolohea who passed to Niall Evalds...Evalds spotted space on the outside and fed the winger who sped across the lush Wembley turf to score, one of the great Challenge Cup tries. Krisnan Inu converted and the Red were level. (6-6)

With Leeds dominating the field position, on the back of a poor Salford kicking game, they were nearly made to pay on 28-minutes by the Rhinos when James Donaldson had a try correctly disallowed for a clear double movement.

Unfortunately, this warning wasn't heeded when two minutes later the right edge of the Leeds attack created an overlap for Ash Hanley to stroll in for his first try of the afternoon. Rhys Martin kicked another from the touchline. (12-6)

Half-time came soon after with the contest in the balance, but with Salford coach Ian Watson needing to get his creative players to improve their kicking game to put Leeds under pressure. Salford tackled really well in the first half and soaked up a lot of pressure, with only a six-point lead for all their efforts the Rhinos must have been a little concerned.   

The second half kicked off and the Red Devils soon forced the Rhinos to dropout. People would have been forgiven in thinking this 'isn't our day' as Tui Lolohea made a poor attempt to get to the drop out and kicked the ball into touch to hand position back to the Rhino's. Fortunately nothing came from this unforced error.

Salford did improve their kicking game and were able to put the Rhinos under some pressure. 13 minutes into the half the Reds earned a repeat set of six and Pauli Pauli received the ball 10-metres out and crashed through two players to score. Krisnan Inu missed the kick but the Reds had closed the gap to two points. (12-10).

Within 5-minutes of Pauli Pauli's try the Red Devils were ahead and a cheer roared from the Salford affiliated-people in the stadium which belied the lack of crowd. A last tackle kick was hoisted up which had the Leeds defenders panicking, full back Richie Myler got nowhere near to the ball letting it bounce, with the Red Devils regathering, swift hands moved the ball to James Greenwood who scored near to the posts. Inu kicked the conversion and the Reds were leading with a little over twenty minutes to go (12-16).

Leeds were stunned and their play suffered for a few minutes as they chased the game, and another Salford try would have killed the game off. Unfortunately this didn't happen; the Rhinos started to get back into the game on the back of Tongan powerhouse Konrad Hurrell, who made a number of strong runs which culminated in him getting the Rhinos into good field positions. On the last tackle Luke Gale surprised the Salford defenders by running the ball which created some space for the ball to go to Ash Hanley in the corner to score and tie the match at 16-all. Rhys Martin missed the conversion from the touchline and we were in for a nail biter with 15 minutes left.

It was the Rhino's now in the ascendency and they managed the last part of the match better. With around ten minutes to go they made their intentions clear with Gale missing a drop goal attempt.

And then the 2020 Coral Challenge Cup final came down to one moment. With around five minutes to go, the scores locked at 16 all and Salford working towards a position to put Leeds under pressure, the referee ruled that Salford's Pauli Pauli had incorrectly played the ball and gave possession to the Leeds Rhinos on half way.

The Rhinos used the following set of six to creep forward and set Luke Gale up for the winning drop goal. To be fair, from my vantage point the ball was a mess but what upsets people is that every single play of the ball in the game could be penalised, so why at the death when the scores at locked? Would Leeds have suffered a similar call?

That is all academic, although it does feel that in the two finals we have been in we didn't get a fair crack of the 50/50 decisions. But, professional players shouldn't be making such poor mistakes. It is unfortunate, some will say, that coach Ian Watson is such a gentleman. Perhaps if he was a little less diplomatic and questioned why 'little old Salford' don't seem to get their fair share of 50/50s, referees may be more consistent. 

The Reds though were not yet beaten and in the last minute of play were on the Rhino's line, and it looked as if Krisnan Inu could have scored if he backed himself, instead losing the ball when trying for an offload, and with it went the Red's chances of victory and going down in club history as Challenge Cup winners. 

In Hindsight...
Although the game did not go the Red Devils way, the players gave their all, which is all we can ask. The match was so tight that the Red Devils players must be rueing the one that got away. This was a game that they could have won.

Perhaps you may think I am being harsh, but I felt that Salford played much more conservatively than they normally do. When the ball was spread wide they made ground, but they did get sucked into a more attritional game up the middle which suited the Rhinos.

We must credit Leeds on their 14 victories in this competition. They probably just edged the game and at the crucial times managed the game better. We must also congratulate ex-Red Devils' Richie Myler who won the Lance Todd trophy as man of the match, and Rob Lui who both played important parts in the Rhinos win. 

The Salford players were obviously upset at full time and I hope that they take pride in their performance and make renewed efforts to get to Wembley again. 51 years between finals is an awfully long time. Under coach Ian Watson the Reds have competed over the last few seasons against teams with much higher wage budgets who get much more exposure. It's time for the people of Salford to get behind the team and get your backsides down to the AJ Bell when crowds are allowed again...

Report and photos by Gareth Lyons 

Main photo: Konrad Hurrell consoles his Tongan teammate Tui Lolhea