Talking points: St Helens fight from behind as James Roby breaks yet another record

Josh McAllister
Joe Batchelor, James Roby, St Helens. News Images

Photo by Steve Flynn/News Images.

St Helens fought from 12-0 behind to claim a 26-12 victory at the Totally Wicked Stadium on a milestone day for hometown hero James Roby.

Here are three talking points from the Super League fixture.

James Roby celebrates milestone with victory

The 37-year-old veteran became the club’s all-time leading appearance holder with his 532nd in the Red V, overtaking Kel Coslett’s record that has stood since 1976.

He was welcomed onto the field by a guard of honour by both teams ahead of kick off, and played a solid 75 minutes until his first break on the bench.

Despite the party atmosphere, it was a slow start for the hosts as Salford fought for a 12-0 lead with tries through Brodie Croft and Ryan Brierley.

James Bell eventually reduced the deficit to six before the break, with Roby playing a big hand in the lead up. 

Paul Wellens’ Saints came out a new side in the second half, scoring tries through Curtis Sironen, Jonny Lomax, Tommy Makinson and Joe Batchelor.

11,881 watching on inside the ground.

Curtis Sironen’s impact

Sironen made his return from injury for the first time since Good Friday’s defeat to Wigan and had a real impact on the game.

The Australian back-rower assisted his side’s first to make it 12-6 for Scotland international Bell, before scoring a four-pointer of his own just minutes into the second half for a 12-10 score, with Tommy Makinson missing the conversion. 

Head coach Wellens admitted ahead of the game that his back-row options consisting of Batchelor, Sironen and Sione Mata’utia are up there in the current game, with the former two scoring in the victory, and Mata’utia still sidelined through his head knock sustained against Wigan. 

Salford’s forgettable 40

Salford turned on the style in the first half and looked the far better team, throwing the ball around with ease and looking classy with Brodie Croft, Marc Sneyd and Ryan Brierley running the show in the sun.

But it was a 40 to forget for the travelling Salford supporters in the second half. The side spilled the ball on the restart set, allowing Sironen to crash over for his four-pointer early on.

Rhys Williams probably wants to forget the half, too. The Welsh international first allowing a kick to bounce before forcing a pass to Joe Burgess, only for the ex-Wiganer to drop the ball and Lomax to pounce on the loose pass and score.

It went from bad to worse with more tries conceded, none scored and some slight disciplinary issues.

And even when it was going right, it was going wrong. Deon Cross pinned for a forward pass to Williams on the attack with eight minutes left on the clock which could have kick-started a potential comeback for Rowley’s men.

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