Category News

Betfred Super League

Wakefield (30) 72

Tries: Walmsley 2, McMeeken, Jowitt, Faatili 2, Lino, Scott, Rourke, Nikotemo, Lingard 2, Pitts Goals: Jowitt 10

Salford (0) 10

Wakefield Trinity equalled their biggest Super League win with a 13-try thrashing of beleaguered Salford Red Devils.

In-form Trinity took full advantage of some dreadful Salford defence to claim a top-six place as Lachlan Walmsley scored twice, and Mike McMeeken, Max Jowitt, Caius Faatili and Mason Lino all went over to establish a 30-0 half-time lead.

Salford had some respite as Jonny Vaughan and Nene Macdonald replied in the second half but home debutant Ellis Lingard scored twice and Cameron Scott, Josh Rourke, Seth Nikotemo, Jay Pitts and Faatili again all cut through a non-existent visiting rearguard.

The success equalled the home side’s 72-10 win over Hull FC in 2018, which was their biggest win in the competition.

The Red Devils have had a torrid time this season, losing several of their top players due to their ongoing off-field problems as well as injuries to Jayden Nikorima and Ethan Ryan.

Castleford Tigers’ decision to recall forward George Hill meant they could only raise an 18-man squad for Sunday’s trip across the Pennines.

A Trinity side which is on a roll after hammering Warrington Wolves was not about to show them any mercy and with a re-hashed Salford backline, which had Macdonald at full-back, struggling to contain their opponents, they kept up a point-a-minute tally for most of the first half.

A moment of slackness from Lino handed Vaughan a try gift for a Salford side which has not scored more than 16 points in their current losing streak, but Trinity hit back as Scott latched on to Jowitt’s grubber kick to restore the 30-point margin.

Macdonald and Chris Hankinson both left a high kick to each other to give Rourke the easiest try he will ever score and Nikotemo added another.

With a fourth win in five games in the bag, Trinity coach Daryl Powell blooded 18-year-old Lingard, and his try took them past 50 points.

Macdonald marked his own 200th appearance with a try in a rare moment of relief for the visitors, but Pitts capped off his 150th Trinity appearance with his first try of the season and Australian prop Faatili, who signed a new three-year deal this week, made it two tries in each of the last three games.

Wakefield coach Daryl Powell told BBC Radio Leeds:

“I feel for Salford and what’s happened to them but we can only play what’s in front of us, and we were outstanding.

“The first half was pretty ruthless and consistent on both sides of the ball. We started the second half pretty sloppily and Salford put their foot down a bit and got some joy but for us to be able to give a couple of boys debuts, and play about with it a little bit, was good.

“It showed we have a genuine squad when we have got quite a few players who haven’t been playing consistently for us but did a great job today.

“Mason Lino’s doing an unbelievable job of anchoring the team as a half, Max (Jowitt) and Josh Rourke played really well today, and Harvey Smith has a big future ahead of him.”

Salford coach Paul Rowley told BBC Radio Manchester:

“You can usually take some positives out of most games, but not a lot out of that. Wakefield were very good but the core principles of any game are to run hard and tackle hard, and we have got enough players who can cause enough problems with the ball in hand and score points, but the inability to defend, at the minute, is frightening.

“We’ve put scores like that on teams when they’ve been fully recruited, not when they’ve been stripped of half a team.

“We’re damaged in that respect but [Wakefield’s revival] does give you hope, stop you feeling sorry for yourself and have an understanding that this game can change really quickly.

Wakefield: Rourke; Walmsley, Hall, Scott, Johnstone; Jowitt, Lino; McMeeken, Smith, Faatili, Croft, Nikotemo, Pitts.

Interchanges: Vagana, Cozza, Myers, Lingard

Salford: Macdonald; Connell, Marsters, Vaughan, Hankinson; Brierley, Morgan; Ormondroyd, Davis, Makin, Warren, Stone, Shorrocks.

Interchanges: Foster, Sangare, Wilson, Chan

Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin called it all “a little bit surrealistic”.

Captain Graeme Shinnie spoke with glistening eyes about taking an open-topped bus down a heaving street where he used to shop as a child.

And chairman Dave Cormack wondered whether he might have been “swinging off the chandeliers” in celebration had it happened a few years before now.

But perhaps Scottish Cup final game-changer Shayden Morris encapsulated a remarkable afternoon in the Granite City most succinctly.

“This is just unreal man,” the Englishman said, awestruck at the sight of close to 100,000 Aberdeen fans engulfing the city’s streets to welcome home their Hampden heroes.

Morris reckons it was “the best day of our lives” and few of his team-mates would disagree, judging by the smiles on their bleary faces as they hung off the slow-moving bus and cavorted on the Town House balcony.

A “couple of the boys are hanging”, confirmed midfielder Dante Polvara when asked about the riotous celebrations both on the road back north from Glasgow and when Aberdeen party arrived home.

Captain Shinnie’s crackly voice hinted it had been a big one. He reckoned he might have got “a couple of hours sleep”.

“I always knew that this was possible if you won a trophy for this club,” the 33-year-old said of the city centre scenes. “But I didn’t expect it to be as good as what it is.

“This is what I was always desperate to do. It’s phenomenal. You’ve shared it with your team-mates but now you’re sharing it with the city.

“There are close to 100,000 fans and you can see what it means to all of them. It’s a very special weekend.”

Cormack has been part of crowds hailing Aberdeen trophy successes in the 1980s, so also had an inkling about what Sunday’s celebrations would hold.

“This is very special,” he said. “It’s supposed to be raining today and the sun has come out as well. Maybe if I was 40 I might have been swinging off the chandeliers.”

The chairman also paid tribute to Thelin, whose debut season at the club has been one of the most polarised that anyone could have imagined.

Cormack insisted the Swede is at Pittodrie for the long term and is “not a job-hopper”, should his success attract interest from elsewhere.

Certainly, days like this should help convince Thelin to stay where he is.

“It’s been unbelievable. Much, much bigger than I thought,” he said, looking every inch his a man who had enjoyed his evening.

“You imagine what’s going to happen but it was much, much bigger than that. It was actually a little bit surrealistic.

When Aberdeen last won the Scottish Cup in 1990, I was on a bus embarking on a school trip to Germany, listening to it all unfold on my pocket radio.

So being at the celebrations really hammered home how long – too long – it has been since the club last won this trophy, and what it means to the city.

The Dons fans lined the streets in their thousands – well into the tens of thousands, in fact – as the open-top bus weaved its way through the city centre.

They were in fine voice too, with ‘Shinnie, he is one of our own’ and the now trademark ‘Shady Mo’ song being among the choruses belted out as the bus crawled through the throng that filled the granite streets.

Prior to the final, there was a mood of trepidation, and very little expectation among the Red Army.

What a difference a day can make – this was a scene of jubilation and celebration.

It was a fitting reception for the Aberdeen players and staff, who now have their names etched in to the club’s history books.

As they took it in turns to hold the trophy aloft from the balcony at the Town House at the Castlegate end of Union Street, each lift was greeted with delirious joy.

Of course, the challenge will be to build on this success.

Fans lined the streets to see the bus go down Union Street, along Union Terrace and Schoolhill before making its way onto Broad Street.

Chris Nicholl, 30, who was at the game, said the experience was “amazing”.

“It was 35 years of emotion held in for my dad,” he said.

His wife Leah, 30, added: “He didn’t even cry for our wedding!”

The win was especially sweet for a father and son who travelled from Australia to support Aberdeen.

Allan McCarlie, 51, and his 18-year-old son Jamie flew more than 10,000 miles (16,000km) from Sydney for the match on Saturday.

They admitted beforehand people thought they were making a pointless long journey as Celtic were heavy favourites.

“I was told I was mad,” Allan said afterwards. “Spending so much money to travel from Sydney.

As former champion Primoz Roglic lost a lot of time to the rest of his general classification rivals, Spaniard Carlos Verona won stage 15 of the Giro d’Italia with a long-range solo attack on Sunday.

With less than 20 kilometers to go, Slovenian Roglic, one of the pre-race favorites, dropped a minute and a half to the rest of the contenders for the leader’s pink jersey.

The 35-year-old Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe rider is now three minutes 53 seconds behind race leader Isaac del Toro after dropping from fifth to 10th overall.

Verona, 32, a breakaway rider for Lidl-Trek, fought back against a chasing pack of his breakaway teammates to claim his second professional victory and his first Grand Tour stage victory.

Verona finished 22 seconds ahead of Florian Stork and Christian Scaroni in third place, “I certainly didn’t come to the Giro thinking I could win a stage,” she said.

After crashing on stage 14 on Sunday, I was standing ovation for points leaders Mads Pedersen and Giulio Ciccone.

When Cicco was lost, “everything changed yesterday.” My day today is today. Knowing how hard Giulio had worked for this race, I knew I didn’t want to do it for myself.

The British rider, Team Visma-Lease a Bike Simon Yates, leads by one minute and 20 seconds heading into the final week of the UAE Team Emirates-XRG competition.

In the Women’s World Tour event, Swiss Marlen Reusser claimed the title of overall champion at the Vuelta a Burgos Feminas.

The Movistar rider, who had almost two minutes to win the general classification, won back-to-back stage victories.

Stuart Kettlewell has been appointed as Kilmarnock’s new manager, and an appointment is on the horizon.

Derek McInnes, who left Rugby Park last week to join Hearts, will take the place of the former Motherwell and Ross County boss.

Kettlewell, 40, resigned as Motherwell’s CEO in January citing personal abuse during a downward spiral.

However, he was given the job because of his strong impressions of Kilmarnock chairman Billy Bowie and his fellow directors in interviews.

Steven Naismith and John Carver, a former Kilmarnock forward, had also been linked with the position.

In choosing a new manager, Kilmarnock clearly had an eye on avoiding any issues that came with McInnes’ departure.

With the growing rumors, a defeat at Motherwell, and some understandable dismay from some fans, things got a little tricky.

It was obvious that McInnes’ decision to not take over for his final game against his prospective new employers was a case of “damage limitation.”

Kettlewell didn’t come along unexpectedly. He is accessible and capable of citing compelling work history at Ross County and Motherwell.

David M: At Motherwell, he had no real chance. His sincerity is always mine.

Adam, I’m not entirely sure about Kettlewell. However, I believe John Carver would make a wise choice.

Ryan, Kettlewell has a lot of risk. If he wasn’t happy, surely it has to be considered a real possibility that he would walk again on his own terms when you consider how he left his previous position?

John, I would choose either Carver or Kettlewell.

Ross: Given some of the other names being hailed, Kettlewell’s potential is a little unwelcoming. During his previous job, he didn’t specifically ignite the heather.

Taylor: I don’t see him staying in the job past Christmas, if it’s Kettlewell. I’m sorry, but I just can’t see it.