Salford Red Devils have a special strength that is proving key in defying the odds once again

Salford boss Paul Rowley hailed a “special” dressing room after their 25-14 win over Warrington at the Halliwell Jones Stadium. Six days on from Warrington’s Challenge Cup final defeat to Wigan, Salford looked keen to take advantage of any hangover from Wolves as they raced into a 19-0 half-time lead after Nene Macdonald’s tries, Deon Cross and Marc Sneyd.

Warrington briefly threatened an unlikely comeback in the second half with efforts from Rodrick Tai and Matty Ashton, but Cross’ second score of the game wrapped up their chances before Tai crossed for a late consolation. A whirlwind week for Salford has seen director of rugby Ian Blease take up a new role with Leeds and speculation that Rowley could follow him has had no negative impact on the side who claimed a second victory on rejection.

Rowley said: “This group is pretty special. They got what they deserved, the boys, they worked really hard – we played with guts, execution and skill.

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“We just want to keep knocking off the big teams and clubs like Warrington. We are not mentioned at the same time as the bigger clubs, with more resources and higher expectations, which is a strength of ours because there are no expectations.

“We have some decent players and when we have our best players on the park then we can do some good things. We understand Warrington came off the back of an emotional week at Wembley, we expected to come up against the best of them, we won’t get carried away but we can still enjoy a good win against a good team.”

Rowley also praised ‘talisman’ Sneyd, who kicked over five strikes, including a drop goal, to go with his first-half try.

He said: “He’s just a good, humble lad who enjoys rugby, I think that shines through in him. He’s a talisman, he’s old school, he thinks and plays ahead like all good players and when times are stressful on the field and everyone. he doesn’t want the ball, he wants it, so if we have that kind of person in your ranks, we’re very lucky.”