St Helens 54 Hull KR 6: Pryce back to punish Hull KR as Saints march on

The 29-year-old former Great Britain stand off grabbed the first of Saints’ 10 touchdowns with half-back partner Jonny Lomax and James Roby also in excellent form.

Rovers were ripped apart by Saints with Jon Wilkin and Tommy Makinson notching two tries apiece and Iosia Soliola, Scott Moore, Lomax, Roby and Michael Shenton also crossing. Jamie Foster weighed in with seven goals from 10 attempts.

The heavy defeat marked the first time Rovers had conceded a half-century of points since losing a Super League clash 68-12 at St Helens 14 months ago.

Saints coach Royce Simmons gave Pryce a first start since March and he looked dangerous from the first whistle, crossing for the opener as he waltzed over from dummy half for his first try since a score against Wakefield in July last year.

Soliola then had an effort disallowed by referee Ben Thaler before finishing off a sweeping move to make it 10-0.

Saints extended the lead to 16-0 when Wilkin burst through and hacked ahead to touch down after Lomax’s pass fell to the ground.

The home defence was breached with Ben Galea crossing from Michael Dobson’s short pass on a rare Rovers raid into Saints territory, and the try briefly sparked Justin Morgan’s men into life with Jake Webster held up short.

But any hopes of a fightback were quickly dashed when Pryce started a handling move which ended with Shenton putting Makinson over in the corner.

Kris Welham came to the rescue for Rovers when he bundled Francis Meli into touch after he looked certain to score after intercepting a Galea pass and racing 90 metres down the wing.

Saints virtually sealed their last-four spot straight after the restart with Moore supporting Lomax’s break to go over near the posts.

Lomax scored a deserved try, burrowing under several defenders, to extend the lead to 32-6 from a Pryce pass.

A wonderful solo score from Roby added to Rovers woes before Makinson collected Moore’s precision kick for his second try.

Lomax was the provider for Wilkin’s second touchdown with Shenton crossing for the 10th.

Rovers’ coach Morgan said: “A few things cost us, our concentration, giving away too many penalties and making errors.

“You can’t afford to give Saints so much possession in that mood.

“We had to do a lot of defending and Saints played with great speed and tempo. Their front row were very good.

“It’s not a great feeling being knocked out of the cup and now we have to dust ourselves down for next week.”

Rovers lost Liam Colbon with a recurrence of a hamstring injury.

St Helens: Wellens, Makinson, Shenton, Meli, Foster, Pryce, Lomax, Graham, Roby, Puletua, Soliola, Flannery, Wilkin. Substitutes: Eastmond, Moore, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Magennis.

Hull KR: Briscoe, Fox, Welham, Webster, Colbon, Green, Dobson, Vella, Hodgson, Netherton, Newton, Galea, Murrell. Substitutes: Lovegrove, Fisher, Wheeldon, Taylor.

Referee: B Thaler (Wakefield)