Rovers nilled and nailed as Saints roll relentlessly on

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Early tries from Willie Talau and Leon Pryce put the visitors in control - and they never looked back.

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Power surge: Leon Pryce scores Saints' second try

Keiron Cunningham, Matt Gidley, Paul Wellens and James Graham scored in the second half, with youngster Steve Tyrer also crossing and kicking six goals.

Saints were below par with Paul Sculthorpe, Sean Long, Francis Meli and Bryn Hargreaves missing.

But Rovers were without injured wingers Byron Ford and Jon Steel, meaning full-back Ben Cockayne was switched to the right wing and Mark Lennon got a first start of the season at full-back.

And Saints who got off to a flier with two tries in the first six minutes.

With three minutes on the clock Stanley Gene knocked on out on the right, Saints swung the ball left and Matty Smith sent Talau in to score, with Tyrer's mishit conversion attempt somehow scraping over the bar.

Paul Cooke's restart kick failed to go 10 metres and from the penalty which followed the ball was moved swiftly once more and Pryce stepped his way through to touch down in the sixth minute - Tyrer again converted to give his side a 12-0 lead.

After the initial shocks Rovers settled down and held firm until the break.

However, Saints went on the attack right from the restart and with 45 minutes gone Cunningham went in for a typical close-range effort, Tyrer converting.

Saints crossed the line again but referee Phil Bentham chalked off the effort for offside in the build-up.

Rovers fought their way down to the Saints 20 and Jon Goddard appeared to have scored from a Chris Chester kick, but he was ruled to have knocked on as he tried to ground the ball.

Pryce sent Gidley in for a 56th-minute try and Tyrer added his fourth conversion from in front of the posts.

Then, three minutes later, Wellens ghosted in and Tyrer added the extras to make the score 30-0 to the visitors.

Tyrer then crossed - and again converted - but failed for the only time in the match after Graham had hammered the final nail in Rovers' coffin with a try five minutes before the end.