St Helens 68 Hull KR 12: Ruthless St Helens hammer hapless Hull KR

Rovers' last memories of Saints were of seeing their rivals "smiling, joking and carrying on" at Murrayfield just three weeks ago after the Merseysiders had inflicted an embarrassing 54-0 rout.

They hoped to wreak revenge last night but all they managed was more of the same.

The night did not start well for Justin Morgan's men even before they suffered one of the biggest defeats of recent years.

Their bus broke down on the M62 so they were late arriving at Knowsley Road. How they must have wished they had remained stranded after a 13-try mauling.

The East Yorkshire club – who had responded to their Magic Weekend horror by gaining their first win in four games against Crusaders last week – were not helped by referee James Child.

He reduced the visitors to 11 men on the back of a one-sided penalty count before the break. By the time they had trudged in trailing 26-6, exhausted Rovers had defended countless sets on their own line following nine consecutive penalties. That from the leaders of the Fairplay Index.

It was no surprise when England scrum-half Kyle Eastmond ran them ragged in the second period and Ade Gardner finished with four tries.

Ben Cockayne was dispatched on 31 minutes for a late tackle after Eastmond had kicked to the corner.

The Hull KR winger had barely sat down in the dug-out when he was joined by Ben Fisher, the Rovers hooker yellow carded for a high tackle on Jonny Lomax.

His yellow card was punishment for his side's persistent foul play – Rhys Lovegrove had also gone high in the seconds separating the two incidents – and breathless Rovers were left to toil on again before youngster Jake Emmitt barged over.

When Scott Wheeldon produced a clumsy high challenge on Scott Moore just before the hooter, he had to take a deep breath as Child called him over.

There was no further card but the damage had been done and Rovers capitulated after the break.

Even with Cockayne returned to the field, they were easily undone for Moore to get Saints' sixth try of the evening.

The powerful Tony Puletua, a regular Rovers tormentor, eased out of a tackle to slip in the former Huddersfield hooker and Eastmond converted again.

One of Matt Gidley's audacious trademark flicks put Gardner over for his hat-trick although, again, England full-back Shaun Briscoe should have done better in trying to keep the Cumbrian out, unusually being beaten for strength.

He was left grounded once more when the elusive Eastmond zipped past Wheeldon and stepped around him for a classic score and – with more penalties going against them – the misery seemed set to continue.

However, when the visitors won their first penalty of the half, met by ironic cheers, they quickly capitalised, Michael Dobson sliding a kick in for Clint Newton to ground, Dobson adding the extras.

Order was restored soon after though when Eastmond danced wide to usher Gidley over and the untouchable scrum-half then chipped an inch-perfect kick to allow the unmarked Gardner his fourth.

Lomax got in on the act before James Roby shrugged off more poor defence out wide to dive in.

Andrew Dixon added a 13th try following another defensive howler involving Peter Fox and Briscoe, Lomax adding his third conversion having earlier taken over kicking duties from Eastmond, to end a miserable night for Morgan's battered side.

It had started badly for Rovers when Josh Hodgson deli defence failed to advance late on and he took over kicking duties to make it 60-12 vered a mis-timed forward pass to gift Saints position for Gardner to start the scoring in the fourth minute.

James Graham then steamrolled over Newton from the re-start, a clash of heads leaving the dazed Rovers captain scrambling around on the floor.

However, his side showed plenty of enterprise, Ben Galea in particular, and Kris Welham scored a 10th-minute try off Dobson's grubber.

Dobson thought he had got a second seven minutes later but video referee Ben Thaler ruled Rovers wing Fox had illegally challenged Jamie Foster and the effort was ruled out.

It proved a turning point. Less then 60 seconds later, Gardner was in for his second after Rovers' tame left-side defence was again exposed, and then began that period of Saints domination. Puletua sauntered over in the next set after Fox flapped at Eastmond's crossfield kick.

When Gardner again escaped down the right, Cockayne was penalised for a swinging arm on the ex-England winger, the start of their discipline problems

Chris Flannery fended off Newton to go over and then Saints – who moved into second – took control.

Morgan said: "Make your own mind up on the referee – I'm not going to get suckered into it but it wasn't a real even playing field out there.

"I don't have enough money in my bank account to get drawn into it. If I win the Euromillions, I'll give you my thoughts.

"The scoreline didn't reflect the effort we put in – being down to 11 men sucked a lot of juice out of us.

"The backlash of a St Helens team is going to hurt anyone but we'll get better and bounce back."

St Helens: Lomax; Gardner, Gidley, Flannery, Foster; Pryce, Eastmond; Graham, Cunningham, Hargreaves, Clough, Dixon, Roby. Substitutes: Puletua, Moore, Ashurst, Emmitt.

Hull KR: Briscoe; Fox, Newton, Welham, Cockayne; Murrell, Dobson; Vella, Hodgson, Clinton, Netherton, Galea, Watts. Substitutes: Lovegrove, Wheeldon, Cook, Fisher.

Referee: James Child (Dewsbury).