Veivers praise for Palae’aesina

Salford head coach Phil Veivers praised prop Iafeta Palae’aesina following his performance in Sunday’s 46-16 friendly victory over Halifax.

Palea’aesina, 29, had a difficult first year at the City Reds after joining from Wigan, but is now raring to go for 2012, according to his coach, who has recently taken over from Matt Parish.

Veivers told the club’s official website: “Feka has his hunger for the game back. He’s shed a load of weight and from reporting in at 130kg last year he’s come back at 113 this time which means he’s a lot more agile and much fitter too. 

“I thought he was outstanding.”

Salford, who were beaten at home by Championship side Leigh last week, must have been fearing the worst when they were down 16-6 after 25 minutes.

But they clawed it back to 16-16 by half time, and cut loose in the second half, with Matty Smith scoring a brace of tries. There was a debut too for new centre Joel Moon, signed from New Zealand Warriors.

The win came at a cost, however. Moon suffered a broken nose, captain Stephen Wild picked up a back injury while Matty Ashurst will have a scan on an ankle injury which the club fear could be a torn ligament.