Saints soar into semis
St Helens ran in 10 tries during a 54-6 demolition of Hull KR to book a place in the Challenge Cup semi-finals on Sunday.
Last Updated: 24/07/11 6:15pm
St Helens ran in 10 tries during a 54-6 demolition of Hull KR to book a place in the Challenge Cup semi-finals on Sunday.
Leon Pryce scored his first try for 12 months to help Saints into the last four for the 11th year in a row and condemn Rovers to their first 50-plus point mauling since losing 68-12 to the same club 14 months ago.
Jon Wilkin and Tommy Makinson grabbed two apiece and Iosia Soliola, Scott Moore, Jonny Lomax, James Roby and Michael Shenton also crossed, while Jamie Foster added seven goals from 10 attempts.
Pryce looked dangerous from the first whistle and touched down for the opener, while Soliola finished off a sweeping move to make it 10-0 having first had one disallowed by referee Ben Thaler.
Saints extended the lead to 16-0 on 20 minutes when Lomax's pass fell to the ground and Wilkin burst through to hack ahead and touch down.
Michael Dobson's short pass put Ben Galea over on a rare Rovers raid into Saints territory, but hopes of a fightback were quickly dashed when Pryce started a move that saw Makinson cross in the corner.
Wonderful
Francis Meli looked certain to score after intercepting a Galea pass and racing 90 metres down the wing, but Kris Welham managed to bundle him into the corner flag.
Police had to escort a female supporter out of the ground after a bottle was hurled at the winger as he made his touchline dash.
After leading 20-6 at the break, Saints effectively sealed the win straight after the restart when Lomax broke into space before feeding the supporting Moore, who went in near the posts.
Lomax then burrowed under several defenders to score a deserved try and extend Saints' lead to 32-6.
Roby added to Rovers' misery with a wonderful solo effort, before Makinson latched onto a precision kick from Moore to grab his second try.
Lomax was the provider for Wilkin's second touchdown 15 minutes from time with Shenton crossing for the 10th and final try.