St Helens Beat Salford To Win Super League Title

London, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Oct, 2019 ) :St Helens were crowned Super League champions for the sixth time after ending Salford's fairytale run with a 23-6 win in Saturday's Grand Final.

Justin Holbrook's side were overwhelming favourites against a Salford team who were 150-1 outsiders at the start of the season.

St Helens lived up to their billing with a masterful display in front of 64,000 fans at Old Trafford to clinch the Super League title for the first time since 2014.

It was the perfect way for Holbrook to sign off in the coach's last game before he moves back to his native Australia to become boss of NRL side Gold Coast Titans.

For the second successive year, St Helens had proved themselves to be the best side in Super League during the regular season, lifting the League Leaders' Shield.

They finished with a 16-point gap between themselves and second-placed Wigan and Salford were unable to upset the odds despite their unexpected run to the Manchester showpiece.

Just 12 months on from escaping relegation in the Qualifiers, Ian Watson's team had won 10 of their previous 11 games, including a shock success against last year's champions Wigan, to reach their first Grand Final.

But St Helens had beaten Salford twice already this season and they were quickly on top once again with the silverware up for grabs.

They made the breakthrough after a quarter of an hour, Alex Walmsley driving at the Salford defence before a short pass allowed Morgan Knowles to dive over, with Lachlan Coote adding the extras.

St Helens increased their lead when James Roby's clever inside pass led to Zeb Taia crossing for a try before Coote's kick made it 12-0.

In danger of being blown away, Salford dug deep and finally got on the board just after the half hour.

Tuimoala Lolohea's switch of direction gave him space to find Super League Man of Steel Jackson Hastings and he expertly freed Jake Bibby to go over in the left corner.

Krisnan Inu split the posts to halve Salford's deficit at half-time.

But Mark Percival produced a moment of magic to put St Helens firmly back in control after the break.

Percival raced on to his own grubber to ground the ball under the posts for what seemed the decisive try.

Coote converted and then knocked over a penalty following Salford prop Gil Dudson's head-high tackle on Luke Thompson.