Salford 34-12 Huddersfield: Salford control at the AJ Bell Stadium
By PA
Last Updated: 08/08/16 11:05am
Mason Caton-Brown crossed for a hat-trick of tries as Salford opened their Super 8s Qualifiers campaign with an impressive 34-12 victory over bottom club Huddersfield at AJ Bell Stadium.
Salford were in command from the start and built a 20-0 lead by half-time with converted tries from George Griffin, Caton-Brown and Weller Hauraki, with Gareth O'Brien also booting a penalty.
Ben Murdoch-Masila and Caton-Brown, with a brace, added second-half touchdowns with O'Brien finishing with five kicks from seven attempts as Salford claimed a comfortable victory.
Huddersfield, who have now lost four games in a row, were 24-0 down before they finally got on the scoreboard with substitutes Nathan Mason and Oliver Roberts scoring in quick succession, but they never looked like turning the match around.
Salford, who handed debuts to forwards Luke Burgess and Feleti Mateo after they joined on short-term contracts from Manly Sea Eagles, were quickly in the ascendancy and took a sixth-minute lead.
A mistake from returning Huddersfield full-back Scott Grix, who fumbled a kick from Mateo, put the Giants under pressure and Salford took advantage with George Griffin ploughing over the line.
Salford were in dominant mood and six minutes later slick passing between Mark Flanagan, Michael Dobson and Josh Griffin put Caton-Brown over in the corner for his opening try of the match.
O'Brien, having converted both those scores, extended the lead to 14-0 after 15 minutes with a penalty.
Back-to-back penalties offered Huddersfield some respite with a Robert Lui mistake giving the Giants a chance to launch an attack, but Salford's resolute defence held out.
It was a poor start by Huddersfield, who are still looking for their first win under new boss Rick Stone after defeats by St Helens and Warrington, and they could have fallen further behind had Hauraki been able to hold a difficult pass from Dobson.
Eorl Crabtree's introduction off the bench helped Huddersfield build some forward momentum, with Danny Brough's tactical kicking also pegging the Red Devils back a bit.
However, it was still Salford who looked the more likely scorers and Caton-Brown thought he had notched his second try only to be recalled for a forward pass from Josh Griffin.
The Giants' relief was only temporary, though, with Dobson sending Hauraki stretching over for his first try of the season and O'Brien again landing the conversion to make it 20-0 at the break.
That left Huddersfield with a mountain to climb but they could have trimmed Salford's lead early in the second half if Leroy Cudjoe had managed to find Gene Ormsby, but a poor pass saw the opportunity go to waste.
Justin Carney was proving a handful for the Giants on his return to the Salford side and another burst created the platform for Murdoch-Masila to notch the Red Devils' fourth try from a short Dobson pass.
That stretched the hosts' lead to 24-0 after 52 minutes but Huddersfield finally breached the Red Devils defence three minutes later when replacement Mason forced his way over.
Soon after Roberts also crossed the line and, with Brough converting both, Huddersfield had a glimmer of hope at 24-12.
But any chance of the Giants making further in-roads were hit when Sam Rapira lost possession and allowed O'Brien to send Caton-Brown sprinting past Ormsby to score in the corner.
Aaron Murphy had a try ruled out for Huddersfield after catching Carney napping from a kick but time was running out for the Giants.
And the scoring was wrapped up when Caton-Brown completed his hat-trick seven minutes from time after a long pass from Mateo, with O'Brien converting from the touchline.
