Hodson lands five in Doncaster rout

Hodson notched a hat-trick against South Wales Scorpions last weekend and took his tally to 15 for the season as the Dons ran riot on the left flank.

Centre Lee Waterman, playing inside Hodson, grabbed a hat-trick himself to add to the six he scored against Sharlston in the cup a fortnight ago.

Doncaster had the game won in the first quarter when they raced into a 16-point lead and never looked back despite the hard-working efforts of a London side which battled all the way to the final whistle.

Waterman touched down in the sixth minute when he punished a defensive error and Hodson increased the lead with a twisting run five minutes later.

Stand-off Paul Cooke masterminded everything for Doncaster and he combined with full-back Mick Butterfield to send Kieran Hyde darting over in the 15th minute.

But the home side were caught napping after 21 minutes when full-back James Anthony sneaked in to score before Hodson went over in the corner three minutes later.

Anthony showed a neat turn of pace to score again after 27 minutes.

But the Dons rarely relaxed their grip after that with Cooke producing a brilliant long-range looping pass for Hodson’s third try four minutes later.

Waterman touched down again to make it 34-10 at half time and Cooke wasted no time sending Hodson over again in the first minute of the second half.

Waterman, Kyle Bibb and Grant Edwards all crossed before Brad Hopkins scored a late try for Skolars.

But the Dons had the last word when Cooke and Waterman linked for Hodson’s fifth try six minutes from time.

Doncaster: Butterfield, Sanderson, Cunningham, Waterman, Hodson, Cooke, Hyde, Castle, Ely, Spiers, Lawton, Robinson, Edwards. Substitutes: Welsh, Emmett, Bibb, Kesik.

London Skolars: Anthony, Paxton, Pryce, McNamara, Adebisi, Thorman, Skee, Bryan, Smith, Williams, Worrincy, Hopkins, Aggrey Substitutes: Roche, Purslow, Robinson, Bate.

Referee: G Stokes.