Robins rout injury-hit Tigers
Castleford's lack of depth was laid bare on Sunday as Hull KR romped to a 70-12 victory over the Tigers.
Last Updated: 21/05/12 9:20pm
The lack of depth in Castleford's squad was laid bare on Sunday as Hull KR romped to a 70-12 victory over the injury-ravaged Tigers.
Ian Millward's men rarely got a look in at MS3 Craven Park as they were comprehensively taken apart by a Robins side who posted their best-ever Super League win to move within a point of the top eight.
Rovers ran in 12 tries during the match, three coming in the first 10 minutes, with David Hodgson claiming a match haul of four and Shannon McDonnell three.
It had never promised to be easy for Castleford and their depleted ranks and they needed to start in a watchful manner. Unfortunately for them, the opposite happened.
In the just the third minute Richard Owen missed Craig Hall's kick to give McDonnell, on his first appearance since announcing his departure at the end of the season, a free run in for the first try.
Onslaught
Michael Dobson added the extras and two minutes later assisted in his side's second to give Kris Welham with an overlap which Hodgson duly took advantage of in the corner.
Soon after Blake Green sent up a beautiful 40-20 kick which led to the hosts third - Sam Latus going in at the corner after a link-up between Green and McDonnell.
Dobson atruck the conversion to put Rovers 18-0 up with just nine minutes gone and it was not long they went over for a fourth time, McDonnell grabbing his second as he chased a Dobson kick.
The latter slotted the extras from the touchline to all but end the game as a contest before the fifth try duly followed 21 minutes in.
This time it came through Captain Ben Galea, who skipped around Grant Millington and set Hodgson free for a walk-in second which Dobson converted.
Six minutes before the break Welham went in for the home side's sixth, although Castleford were afforded some respite from the onslaught in the shape of a try from Jordan Thompson.
Powerful
But normal service was resumed three minutes after the break when some neat interplay between Galea and McDonnell put Hodgson in for his hat-trick.
Australian full-back McDonnell was not long behind Hodgson in securing his own treble, taking in a Dobson pass in the 55th minute to score.
And, soon after, Lincoln Withers joined the fun when he combined with Scott Murrell to break clear for a try.
Murrell was making a nuisance of himself off the substitutes bench and with 17 minutes remaining laid on a short ball for powerful lock Mika to carry over the line.
Castleford did cross again through Josh Griffin, but Rovers were quickly back on the front foot, with Hall crossing in the corner and Dobson adding his 10th goal from 11 attempts.
The hosts broke their record with four minutes to go when Hodgson took Dobson's kick on the fly to score and the scrum-half booted on the extras to close things out.
