Danny Brough provides Huddersfield with invaluable win over Salford at a wet AJ Bell
Last Updated: 09/05/15 1:10pm
A Danny Brough masterclass sent Huddersfield into the top four of Super League with a 19-0 win over Salford on Friday.
First-half tries from Leroy Cudjoe and Jamie Ellis laid the platform for yet another impressive away performance from the Giants, while Salford were left to reflect on a fifth straight loss and a first defeat to nil since they lost to St Helens in Round 3 last season.
Kyle Wood added a third Huddersfield try midway through the second-half, while man-of-the-match Brough provided seven extras in total as Paul Anderson’s side avenged last month’s 18-12 home defeat at the hands of the Red Devils.
A rivalry has brewed ever since that ill-tempered evening and despite the five-hour downpour prior to kick-off, spectators expected fireworks after Salford stand-off Rangi Chase was given a seven-match ban for his ‘cannonball tackle’ on Huddersfield's Brett Ferres, a ban he is still serving.
The Giants took the lead inside seven minutes, as Ben Jones-Bishop spilled Brough’s kick for the corner and Cudjoe lapped up the loose ball to touch down for his fourth try of the season.
Brough was unable to add the extras from out wide, but Huddersfield continued to ask more questions with only handling errors preventing them from turning further try-scoring opportunities into points.
But a combination of opportunism from Brough’s boot and hesitancy from Niall Evalds allowed Ellis to double Huddersfield’s advantage after 15 minutes.
Trailing 10-0, Salford needed to lift their dampened support through swashbuckling rugby, but it was a spate of inevitable fisticuffs that surfaced after 23 minutes.
Both sides were temporarily reduced to 12 men, as Scott Grix and Weller Hauraki threw punches to spark a mass brawl in the Devils’ in-goal area.
In a fractious contest, it was Brough’s class that stood out. The 2013 Man of Steel was instrumental throughout, throwing dummies and going through gaps with ease.
Were it not for one final offload back into Salford arms, Brough would have had a third assist of the evening, but he extended the Giants’ lead to 12 points with the boot after a contentious knock-on with two minutes of the first-half remaining.
The depleted, workman-like Reds, seeking a double over the Giants for the first time since 2007, needed an instant response after the interval, but instead they continued to struggle against Brough’s short kicking game.
The Scotland international scooped over another point to leave the Reds needing three scores, and Wood sealed the points for the Giants with his second try of the season after Jones-Bishop’s inexplicable attempt to control a bouncing ball with his feet.
Salford offered very little in attack, and Mason Caton-Brown was denied a consolatory first try of the season when he knocked on a loose ball before going over.
It compounded a miserable night for the Reds, who drop below Catalan Dragons into ninth on score difference after Hull KR’s 54-6 win last night over Wakefield.
The Giants, meanwhile, head into next weekend’s Challenge Cup tie against Leeds at Headingley full of confidence on the back of five games unbeaten and two hours of rugby without conceding a try.
