Rovers rout sorry Salford

Peter Fox and Michael Dobson both helped themselves to hat-tricks as Hull KR hammered struggling Salford 48-12 at Craven Park.

The Robins ran in nine tries as they made it three home wins in a row, the last two both seeing them score 48, and move up to sixth in Super League.

In contrast, Salford are stuck down near the foot of the table, only the pointless Celtic Crusaders currently below them in the standings.

Having started life back in the top flight with a victory over their fellow new boys, Shaun McRae's side have now lost six matches on the spin.

Barren run

Their hopes of breaking their barren run in Hull had received an early boost as well when they took a shock lead after just 64 seconds.

Fit-again winger Paul White, making his first appearance of the season, stunned the Robins by going over in the corner, John Wilshere's conversion making it 6-0.

Despite Scott Murrell's close range try for the hosts, Salford moved eight points clear when Craig Stapleton sent in Luke Adamson for a converted score that made it 12-4.

However, from the moment Fox went over for his first of the afternoon it became one-way traffic in favour of the hosts, who went on to score 36 unanswered points.

The former Leeds and Wakefield winger crossed again five minutes before the break but with none of the home team's tries being converted, the score was deadlocked at 12 apiece.

Dobson made up for his failure to land any of his three first-half attempts by putting Rovers ahead for the first time with his opening try just two minutes after the re-start.

Personal treble

The Australian scrum-half added further efforts on 62 and 65 minutes, which came when he hacked a loose ball and won the race to ground it, to complete his treble. He also slotted over six kicks to finish with a personal haul of 24 points.

By that stage Fox had already scored his third, Chas I'Anson's long pass opening up enough space for the England international to scamper in at the corner.

Kris Welham helped himself to a brace during the rout, his first being a complete gift as Salford got themselves in a real muddle in defence.

The 22-year-old was also the beneficiary of another present to round out the scoring in the closing minutes, his tackle jolting free the ball to leave him a simple run-in.

As if the Reds' day couldn't get much worse, the returning White suffered a serious knee injury while Dean McGilvray also picked up a hip problem