St Helens have continued their 100% start to the defence of their Super League crown with a convincing 52-6 victory over Salford Red Devils this evening.
The visitors ran in 10 tries overall, with Mark Percival, Joe Greenwood and Jordan Turner each grabbing braces in the resounding win.
It was hosting Salford that had the better of the opening exchanges, but Saints were the first to register on the scoreboard as Adam Swift broke through before Percival went over on the 10-minute mark.
Turner and Greenwood then touched down within five minutes of each other to extend the lead further, while Percival added his first successful conversion of the night to open up a 14-point gap.
Salford came up with a response shortly before the half-hour mark, but Ben Jones-Bishop's solo effort was to prove a false dawn for hopes of a comeback against the reigning champions.
Indeed, the Saints had restored their 14-point advantage before half time as Luke Thompson powered over the line, while Tom Makinson picked up where they left off at the start of the second half with an early score to make it 24-6.
Salford thought that they had touched down for their second try of the evening only to be denied by the video ref, who awarded Percival a try just minutes later following a comedy of errors from Jon Wilkin's kick.
Wilkin was again involved as he sent Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook in for his side's seventh try of the evening, and things got even tougher for the hosts just a minute later as Gareth Hock was sent to the sin bin.
The Saints didn't take long to make the most of their numerical advantage, with Greenwood and Turner both going over for their second of the match during Hock's time off the field.
Andre Savelio took his side over the 50-point mark late on with their 10th try of the match following Percival's kick, capping off a commanding performance from St Helens and leaving Salford still winless in the new season.
Barney Corkhill
