On a night which will be remembered for all of the wrong reasons, Super League was left red-faced after St Helens’ record-breaking 82-0 win against Salford Red Devils’ youngsters.

Due to regulations surrounding their salary cap limitation, which remains in place while a takeover is going through, Salford named essentially a reserves squad for their Round 1 trip to the Totally Wicked Stadium.

Joe Bullock, Tiaki Chan and Ben Hellewell were the only recognisable senior men in a matchday squad containing just 16 players, and all three of those started the evening on the bench.

As everyone expected, a virtually full strength St Helens side littered with star talent including new recruits Tristan Sailor and Kyle Feldt, absolutely demolished them.

And to make matters worse, they did so live in front of the BBC cameras – with the game chosen for broadcast on BBC Two.

Super League left red-faced as St Helens break record in demolition of Salford Red Devils youngsters

Saints’ Round 1 victory against Salford’s youngsters enters the history books as the game which saw Super League‘s biggest-ever winning margin – 82 points.

Coincidentally, the record was also previously held jointly by a game which saw Salford absolutely battered – beaten 96-16 at Bradford Bulls in June 2000.

Leeds Rhinos – 86-6 at Headingley against Huddersfield Giants in July 1999 – and Warrington Wolves, 80-0 at home against Wakefield Trinity in April 2015, had also previously been winners by an 80-point margin in Super League.

But no side had ever won a Super League game by 81+ points until Saturday evening on Merseyside, with Saints the new outright record holders.

A very long list of try-scorers included Morgan Knowles (2), Lewis Murphy, Sailor (4), Curtis Sironen, Harry Robertson (2), Feldt, Jonny Lomax, Mark Percival, Joe Batchelor and George Delaney.

Percival kicked 11 conversions from 15 attempts, earning Saints 22 of their 82 points.

Only Bradford (17) in that 1997 demolition of Salford have ever scored more than 15 tries in a single Super League game before.