Salford Red Devils 70 Featherstone Rovers 16: Red Devils too hot to handle says Rovers boss Sharp

Rovers suffered their fifth successive defeat in the First Utility Qualifers when they were crushed 70-16 at Salford Red Devils yesterday.

That came after they had conceded 62 points to Leeds Rhinos and Huddersfield Giants and Sharp’s men have also suffered narrow defeats by Kingstone Press Championship rivals Leigh Centurions and Batley Bulldogs.

Rovers got off to a flying start with a try in the first minute, but were 44-12 behind at half-time and conceded 13 tries in total.

Sharp said: “We wanted to start well and said it was important we put pressure on the opposition.

“But starting well is not just about scoring an early try. Sometimes it’s about building pressure and completing your sets.

“We completed two of our first six sets and didn’t apply any pressure at all on the opposition.

“That gave them energy and they were really good; they were big and strong and aggressive when they had the ball. They were far too much for us to handle at times.”

Sharp added: “I have got a team there that’s lacking seven starting members, who played against Bradford and Halifax and Batley [at the end of the regular season].

“We have got a patched-up team that is not a reflection of some of the things we’ve done this year.

“We’ve got some key people missing, some people who are crucial to what we do.

“Certainly we are feeling that at the minute.”

Sharp admitted Rovers struggled to deal with Salford’s kicking game and were put on the back foot by the Super League team’s pack.

“When you have a completion rate of around 50 per cent, it gets you eventually,” he said.

“We are putting some good passages of football on and playing some good stuff at times, but we are not sustaining it for long enough.

“That’s down to the injuries we have and the part-time footballer against the full-time player as well.”