Salford travelled to Hull, last season's Challenge Cup winners, on the back of three brilliant wins - destroying classy Castleford; giving the chemics, Widnes, a taste of Salford medicine, and winning a hard fought battle against the Saints who were put in their place after a mighty battle.
This trip to Hull was a third v fourth in the League, and I was expecting a right old ding dong. Salford, nowadays, are a match for anyone, with a brilliant defence and a team that can score from anywhere on the park. We are nobody's pushover anymore. And it's brilliant to be a part of this. Before the game even started, I looked at the team sheet and thought 'We are going to give them a right good pounding tonight'. I was not wrong.
Hull started off quite well and soon went into an 8-0 lead. It was as if we had given them a start - then boom! Rugby at its best. Salford went on to score 34 points unanswered in what must have been one of the best first halves I have ever seen.
The way they were passing the ball about was magical, scoring at will. I even lost count with the scoreboard at one point, I was getting that giddy. Every time Salford got into the Hull half we just blew them away. It was like watching the Aussie test team, as tries and goals by Robert Lui, Greg Johnson, Craig Kopczak, Michael Dobson, Gareth O'Brien, Junior Sa'u and Justin Carney racked up a half time score of Hull 8 Salford 34...
The second half started and the Hull players must have had a right rollocking off their coach as they bucked their ideas up a little and scored a couple of tries. But nowadays when big teams want to mix it, we can mix it with the best. Ben Murdoch-Masila put in a hit which was that good I felt it in the press box.
As Hull tired trying to pull back the deficit, Salford stretched the lead through a Dobson try and conversion on 64 minutes. O'Brien later added a penalty goal. Another try followed as George Griffin scored, O'Brien adding the conversion. And Ben Murdoch-Masila completed it all with a try two minutes from time. Final score: Hull 8 Salford 54.
Salford are a dream to watch nowadays, and anyone who missed this match missed a belter. It has been twenty years since we last won four on the trot. The record needed breaking and now it has. Let's see how far we can go.
After the game I caught up with some very happy Salford fans. Ian Archer said "Brilliant"; his son Reece said: "After years of watching shit, we have a brilliant team"; and Katie, his girlfriend, said; "Loved it, best game ever..."
We play Leigh next at home and have a busy period over Easter, with Catalan away. But I see no reason why we cannot increase this run. Ian Watson remained calm after the game, saying Salford can still improve. Not many will put 54 against Hull at home. Salford did. And the Super League had better watch out!
Report by Simon Williams
Photos by Steve McCormick
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