Rovers cruise past Crusaders

Galea: Hat-trick hero for Hull KR

Hull KR heaped more misery on bottom club Crusaders with a commanding 38-10 victory at The Racecourse Ground.

Australian Ben Galea grabbed a hat-trick for the Robins, who crossed for seven tries in total to claim their ninth win of the season.

Sam Latus, Shaun Briscoe, Clint Newton and Michel Dobson also touched down for the visitors, with the prolific Rovers kicker converting five of the goals.

It was yet another miserable afternoon for the Crusaders, who were well in the match at only 12-10 down at the break, but were simply blown away in the second period.

Fear

Both sides had entered the game looking to move on from their off-field troubles.

The Crusaders were without the seven first-team players who were handed a one-match ban for breaking a squad curfew, while the Robins have spent most of the week fending off speculation linking coach Justin Morgan with a move to Castleford for the 2012 season.

The hosts, who had three players loaned from Championship One side South Wales Scorpions in their squad, found themselves with their backs to the wall after only eight minutes.

Latus grabbed the opening try when he was put in by Jake Webster for an easy score that Dobson converted, and it was soon 12-0 when Dobson sent Galea over the line for his first score with a neat pass.

The heavy defeat which many home fans feared before kick-off was on the cards, but Rovers did themselves no favours when they lost Jason Netherton to the sin-bin after an illegal tackle on home half-back Michael Witt.

The Crusaders found some momentum and went close to pulling a try back when hooker Lincoln Withers was stopped just short, while wing Gareth Thomas failed to stretch out for a try in the right-hand corner before Elliot Kear dropped the ball with the line at his mercy.

The hosts finally got the reward they deserved when Kear clung onto a Vince Mellars pass to score, with Clinton Schifcofske converting.

And six minutes before the break Frank Winterstein powered his way over the line for their second try, although Schifcofske failed with the goal.

Easy chance

However, Hull KR quickly found their feet again after the restart and three tries before the hour mark restored their big advantage.

Galea got two of them to complete his hat-trick after full-back Briscoe was sent in at the right corner.

The final nail in the Crusaders' coffin was hammered home by second row Newton on 63 minutes when he seized on a neat grubber kick over the home line.

The visitors could even afford to miss an easy chance as Latus failed to hang on to a Webster pass when clear.

But Dobson completed the scoring by notching an opportunist try in the dying minutes when the ball went loose on the home line.