Ian Watson | “We showed real character”

Salford Red Devils got back to winning ways with a brilliant 22-24 comeback victory over Hull Kingston Rovers and Head Coach Ian Watson was pleased with the character his side displayed.
He covered a number of subjects in his post-match press conference.

On the nature of the victory… 

It was really good for us as a team and as a group going forward. To be able to show that mentality after so many errors in the first half and to turn the tide like that shows real character within the team and emphasises how good our team spirit is.

On the half-time team talk…

It was 8-22 at half-time and when we came in at half time, I just felt like if we’d cut the errors out, we’d win the game and we needed to complete sets and put the pressure on Hull Kingston Rovers. In the first half we started well and were on the front foot with some of our attacks, but we kept compounding it with errors on our own try-line and giving them the opportunities to attack us. We just spoke at half time about tidying that area up as we were carrying the ball too loose and we were causing our own downfall but once we rectified that in the second half, we looked really good.

Any standout performers… 

George Griffin. He’s played eighty minutes in the middle and then at right back-row for us and that is a big ask to play in the middle for that amount of time. Then he moved into the back-row and made a real impact out there so we’ve got to give big credit to him.

On the half-backs…

There are more than Jackson Hastings in our team. Jackson has pulled off a great try-saving tackle in the second half on Joel Tomkins underneath the posts at a delicate time for us. Rob Lui was great, and he plays on the back of Jackson, but the pack has got to set the platform for you to go forward. If your pack doesn’t go forward your half-backs can’t do anything on the back of it so there are more than just one or two players, but Rob Lui was great.

On Joey Lussick… 

He was probably out there for a little bit too long in the first half and he started to fatigue but when he came back on, I thought he settled us down and got us back to our old processes.

On the importance of the victory…

I think it’s a big one this. I don’t think many teams will come to Hull Kingston Rovers and win. It’s a tough place to come despite us having a few decent wins at KCOM Craven Park but they are a good team and they’ve recruited really well, and they play a great style of football. For us to get two points here and come back in the fashion we did we have to give massive credit to the players, and it was a great game but was a little nervy towards the end.

On the start to the season…

It’s been a strong start for us, and it is exactly what we wanted. We’ve got St Helens, Catalans and Castleford in the coming weeks, so this win sets us up nicely going into these games.

On the short turnaround…

With us playing on Thursday night we’ll have to look after the players.
 
Tickets for our game against St Helens on Thursday 28th February are available to purchase from the AJ Bell Stadium Ticket Office, over the phone on 0161 786 1570 and online HERE.