Salford Red Devils beat St Helens 20-18 to do the double over them for the first time since 1980 but the major talking point has revolved around Marc Sneyd deliberately missing a kick to try and score a cheeky try.
It was an effort from the boot of Sneyd in the first half when Salford were 10-6 up with the Red Devils opting for two to open up a converted try lead, however, the ever-reliable kicker missed his kick wide right by 25 yards.
That’s because he deliberately intended to miss the kick and instead was playing the ball into the path of the advancing Chris Atkin with Salford then scoring on the right-hand side with no Saints players in touching distance of the try-scorer.
It was quickly flagged off though with the touch judges behind the sticks and referee Jack Smith both ruling the score out, explaining to Marc Sneyd that he must make a deliberate attempt to kick the penalty rather than use it as a diversion for a try.
Commentator Stuart Pyke claimed that Marc Sneyd had tried to ‘con’ the referee and footage of the bizarre incident can be seen in the attached tweet at the bottom of the article.
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Marc Sneyd inspires another Salford victory
Credit: Olly Hassell/SWpix.com
So often this season Salford Red Devils have won courtesy of the boot of Marc Sneyd and that was no different today, despite of the fact Sneyd only made two of four conversions and missed his penalty ‘attempt’ as well.
It was his boot that set up Deon Cross’ second try which sent the Red Devils into the half with a 10-6 lead though as the left-footed magician sold Jon Bennison with the eyes before striking the ball off the outside of his boot into the path of his winger.
Cross had earlier scored to hit back at James Bell’s opener but St Helens quickly restored the lead earlier in the second half through a rampaging Curtis Sironen.
Salford appeared to be losing control of the game but another kick wide saw Nene Macdonald bat the ball back and Man of the Match Kallum Watkins scooped it up to score in the corner, however, they were pegged back almost immediately.
The game would then come down to the final five minutes when Chris Hankinson finished off a superb try and all eyes fell on Marc Sneyd to take the score from 18-18 to 20-18, something he did with ease to help land the Red Devils their first double over Saints since 1980.
It also meant St Helens didn’t go back to the top of Super League with Paul Wellens’ side two points behind Wigan and just two points ahead of their opponents from today. Salford now look in the driving seat for a playoff spot despite bookmakers pricing them as outsiders earlier this week.
That’s brilliant by @SneydMarc . How can the ref tell if it’s a bad attempt at goal or genuine effort.
Surly that’s just exploiting the rules to your advantage pic.twitter.com/epkn4shlY7— Ryan Boyle (@boylebags19) June 23, 2024
Anonymous
June 23, 2024 at 7:05 pm
Personally of the opinion that you should be able to allow to use the penalty kick however you want. If you go for two points (and usually you’ll get them) then great. But you should also be allowed to kick into the corner for a player to attempt to get a try. It’s a creative play, and outlawing it just stifles the opportunity for the crowd to see an exciting try being scored.
James Catterall
June 23, 2024 at 8:38 pm
if you opt for two points, after a penalty has been awarded, you have to tell the ref that you are going for two then you have to kick for the two points. You can’t just do what you want with a penalty kick.