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New-look Reds beat off French invaders

Liam Chronnell
30/ 1/2003

IT WASN'T vintage Reds, but Salford did enough to make sure their French visitors didn't cause a major upset at the Willows.

Karl Harrison's men took their foot off the pedal after taking a deserved 14-4 lead, inspired by some precision kicking from Gavin Clinch.

But Clinch, and Salford, eased off the gas before finally finding their touch again in the last 10 minutes.

The superb Jason Flowers opened the scoring on three minutes after Salford had forced the Frenchmen to drop out with some great early tackling from Malcolm Alker and Simon Baldwin.

Marsh converted, but the youngster could not add extras to tries from Alan Hunte and Stuart Littler soon afterwards.

In between, Toulouse responded with a fine Ludovic Perolari try, but with the Reds 10 points up, the game died as a spectacle until deep into the second half.

One man who kept us entertained was the comically-bearded Toulouse prop Olivier Pramil - whose antics hardly endeared himself to the 1,500-or-so Reds fans gathered mainly in the Shed.

After Frederic Zitter had popped his dislocated fingers back in, twice, in front of the press box - the Frenchman somehow managed to feed Aussie Dave Mullholland to put Toulouse back in the game with a try converted by Julien Gerin.

This spurred the Reds into action, and the fans were soon singing "Au Revoir" when Cliff Beverley, then Flowers crossed the line in the final 10 minutes.

Kicking remained a problem for Salford, with Marsh, Clinch and Chris Charles all taking turns without effect.

Advertiser Sport Ratings: FLOWERS 8, Hunte 7, Littler 7, Beverley 7, Arnold 6, Bowker 6, Clinch 7, Coley 8, Alker 7, Highton P 7, Baldwin 7, Lowe 6, Marsh 6. Subs: Charles 6, Highton D 7, Gorski 6, Baynes 7.