Paul Rowley forgives Salford match winner Marc Sneyd for bizarre moment

Sneyd sliced ​​his cross-field kick straight into the arms of teammate Chris Atkin, whose subsequent effort was disallowed by referee Jack Smith as Sneyd’s kick had not been a legitimate attempt on goal.

Rowley admitted that neither he nor Sneyd – who made the crucial difference in setting up tries for Deon Cross and Kallum Watkins – were aware of the obscure statement, but refused to criticize his number seven for two potentially wasted points.

Rowley said: “The referee was absolutely right in thinking it was a deliberately missed kick. I didn’t know that rule – it’s something you learn every week and page 406, paragraph two, rule 2B says you can’t do it.

“He (Sneyd) says it was a mistake – I don’t think so! But I mentioned it myself and I’m convinced he had the courage and effort to actually do it.

Sneyd then made the difference when a better-aimed effort set up a string of tries for Deon Cross, and then helped repel a Saints scramble in the second half with another perfectly weighted cross-field kick, resulting in Kallum Watkins going forward stormed. restore the hosts’ advantage.

A dashing late try from Chris Hankinson rounded off a raw and well-deserved Salford success and Rowley added: “His (Sneyd’s) performance every week reflected his form and his consistency, and today he was the orchestrator out there.

“I thought the efforts of everyone around him were fantastic and that Sneyd was there, because the difference is the part that gets you over the line.

“It (the winning try) was the icing on the cake of a great day overall. But we won’t do backflips, we’ll just acknowledge it and move on. It’s not the cup final, it’s just part of the journey.”

Saints boss Paul Wellens paid tribute to Sneyd but believes his side cut him too much slack as their quest for a fifth straight Super League win failed.

“He (Sneyd) will always have an impact on the game and you have to do your best to avoid that, but he has had too much impact with his kicking,” Wellens admitted.

Second-half tries from Curtis Sironen and Mark Percival had taken his side back to the brink of victory after a poor first period, and Wellens expressed his frustration at his side’s failure to see out the match.

“I thought we would win it – I always support this team to defend a game,” Wellens added.

“But we lost connection with our wing defense a few times, which is unusual, and we conceded two tries through kicks, which is disappointing.

“I thought we did really well in the second half to get back into the game and it was disappointing to be open to their last try at the end after working so hard to get back into the lead come.

“Three out of four were soft attempts in my opinion. Eighteen points should be enough to win any rugby match, but defensively we went a few things wrong today.”