Arriving in sunny West Yorkshire you could sense a real feel good factor around Belle Vue. Wakefield Trinity are starting to rebuild after promotion back to Super League. The team are playing well with lots of confidence and after a very dominant performance over Warrington last Sunday, Salford were very much rank outsiders for this game.

The Red Devils were extremely low on confidence with personnel changes every week. Injuries, off the field drama and a very uncertain future is making life very uncomfortable for both the players and supporters. 

Jayden Nikorima and Ethan Ryan both picked up injuries last Sunday at Castleford leaving coach Paul Rowley to reshuffle his eighteen fit players and mould them in to a competitive outfit. Ryan Brierley and Kai Morgan started as half back partners and Sam Stone returned to the pack for his first appearance of the season. Nathan Connell moved to the wing with Nene Macdonald starting at fullback. 

The Red Devils needed to be more resilient in defence and were tested in the early stages by a very mobile Trinity side full of energy and hard running. Salford defended stoutly in the first few sets but a burst through the middle set up a decent attack for the home side. Quick ball movement followed and Lachlan Walmersley scored in the corner. 

Wakefield were very physical and Salford couldn’t cope with their pack as it roared forward causing havoc. Mike McMeeken and Max Jowitt went right through the middle of Salford to score a try each and at 16-0 their was only one way this game was going.

Brierley and Chris Hankinson came up with a big error deep in their own half and Trinity scored their fourth try of the afternoon to sew the game up as Walmersley got his second. 20-0.

The Wakefield forwards ran hard and straight, Salford had no answer and the gulf between the two teams looked huge. 

Rampaging Australian forward Caius Faatili powered through to score through some very disappointing defence. He’s a real cult favourite with the home supporters and Salford simply couldn’t handle his size all afternoon.

 It took Salford thirty minutes to do anything positive and it was Nathan Connell who made a good break down the left edge before receiving a penalty. This got the visitors into attacking territory for the first time in the match but with a lack of organisation they were caught in possession on the last tackle.

Mason Lino orchestrated a lot of Trinity’s attacks and he got a try right on half time when he sold an outrageous dummy to the shattered Salford defence. 

The Devils trudged off losing 30-0 at the break.

On the first set of the second half Salford forced a Trinity mistake, Brierley’s attacking kick was spilled leaving Jonny Vaughan to pounce on the loose ball to score his second try for the club. Brierley converted, 30-6.

The home side responded immediately and punished Salford as they clocked off again in defence. Cameron Scott scored the home sides seventh try of the afternoon.

The next try Trinity scored was very disappointing from a defensive perspective. Lino put up a high kick and the Salford players just watched with no one willing to take responsibility. Josh Rourke followed up to take the catch and embarrass the Devils with another soft try. Two more tries followed as Trinity passed the fifth point mark before Nene Macdonald scored for Salford.

The Red Devils capitulated in the final stages conceding another three tries. Their maybe mitigation around the club at the moment but in this game Salford failed to do the basics. To many players waited for someone else to do the work, the team lacked motivation and ultimately got what they deserved and that was a record defeat to Wakefield Trinity!

The players looked shattered both physically and mentally at full time. I am not really sure how long this could take to fix up. Confidence has been smashed to pieces and with a very difficult run of games to come there is not much hope to cling onto at the moment. 

Salford will face champions Wigan on Friday in what will be another very difficult match. The players will want to regain some pride after a real humbling at Belle Vue.

Wakefield Trinity 72 Salford 10.

Paul Whiteside.