Michael Dobson bagged a first half hat-trick as the Red and Whites blew away the Crusaders in emphatic style

After six weeks on the road, the Robins returned to Craven Park looking to snap a three-game losing streak against Brian Noble's in-form Crusaders.

Justin Morgan's side was strengthened by the timely return of Ben Galea, Josh Hodgson and Kris Welham, however a hip flexor injury ruled out Jake Webster. Clint Newton switched to the centre spot in his place, while Liam Watts moved to loose-forward.

An early penalty gave the Crusaders the first chance to post points, but some strong tackling saw the Robins defence see off the danger before opening the scoring themselves.

Michael Witt's knock-on on halfway, and Jason Chan's dissent in throwing the ball away handed the Red and Whites their first attacking chance, and they took full advantage as Justin Morgan's positional changes paid early dividends.

Shaun Briscoe's short ball allowed Clint Newton to blast straight through Jarred Sammut and over, with Michael Dobson coolly adding the extras before the Robins broke clear to score again barely a minute later.

Witt's long restart had pinned Rovers deep in their own quarter, only for the ball to be moved wide on the second tackle, allowing Ben Galea to put Kris Welham away. The youngster found Briscoe in support, and although the recovering defenders got back to him, they couldn't prevent the full-back's offload putting Ben Cockayne over.

Dobson converted again, and with the visitors still reeling, the Robins extended their advantage five minutes later with a rather fortuitous score.

Scott Murrell's pass slipped through the fingers of Dobson and straight into the hands of Liam Watts, who got half through a tackle before finding Josh Hodgson on his shoulder. The hooker juggled with the pass, finally gaining control of the ball just before reaching Clinton Schifcofske, and still managed a miraculous offload to send Dobson racing under the posts.

Dobson tagged on the extras before the Welsh side came back, showing just what a dangerous footballing side they could be.

Sammut attacked the line, producing a looping offload which gave Gareth Raynor a chance at the corner, which he finished well.

Witt's conversion curled just wide, before a flowing move sent the former New Zealand Warrior straight through a gaping hole. The stand-off could have scored himself, but instead opted for an inside ball to put Weller Hauraki over, only for referee Phil Bentham to rule the pass forward and save the Robins' blushes.

The Crusaders weren't happy with the decision, but the Red and Whites were not hanging around, and ruthlessly made the visitors pay for their mistake.

Good footwork from Jason Netherton allowed him to slip an offload away to Watts, and he found Dobson on his shoulder for the scrum-half's second try which he converted himself.

Then with six minutes left to the break, Dobson completed his hat-trick with a ruthless breakaway try.

The Crusaders were looking dangerous on the Rovers line, but under good pressure from Jason Netherton, Adam Peek offloaded with his back to the defensive line and Dobson read it to perfection, intercepting to race 85 metres for his third try before converting himself to bring up the 30-point mark at half-time.

Half-Time: Hull KR 30      Crusaders RL 4

With a handsome lead to their credit at the start of the second period, complacency was the Robins' biggest enemy, as the Crusaders' willingness to offload and throw the ball around had caused the Red and Whites problems in the first half.

However Rovers started solidly again, with their hard-working defence frustrating the visitors until another mistake came, and they ruthlessly punished it again.

Sammut telegraphed a flat ball and Newton snapped it up before charging 80 metres to score and put the game beyond the visitors.

Dobson converted superbly from wide out before Sammut made up for his mistake by darting over from close range, Witt adding the extras to get the Crusaders to double-figures.

That was the visitors' parting short though, as the Robins ran riot in the final quarter.

Repeat sets on the Welsh side's line built the pressure before Josh Hodgson's perfectly disguised short ball sent Liam Watts over.

Dobson kept his perfect kicking record intact with his seventh conversion from as many attempts, and shortly after, the Robins were banging on the Crusaders' door again.

Newton tilted for the line from close range, only to be stopped just short by five defenders. Despite that, he still managed to get an arm free and slip a pass to Peter Fox, but as the winger went for the corner, the ball squirted free of his grasp.

That was only a brief reprieve for the visitors though, as the same two players combined again to add to the Red and Whites' lead.

Newton sucked two defenders to him before offloading out of a two-man tackle to send Fox flying past three Crusaders to score.

Dobson converted before Kris Welham brought up the 50-point mark with the final play of the game.

30 metres out from his own line, Dobson produced an inch-perfect cross-kick to find Cockayne, and Welham was tearing up in support to finish the move, with Dobson's conversion rounding off a superb team display.

Full-Time: Hull KR 54      Crusaders RL 10

Hull KR: 1. Shaun Briscoe; 2. Peter Fox, 11. Clint Newton, 3. Kris Welham, 28. Ben Cockayne; 9. Scott Murrell, 7. Michael Dobson; 20. Mick Vella, 21. Josh Hodgson, 30. Joel Clinton; 13. Ben Galea, 16. Jason Netherton, 22. Liam Watts.

Replacements: 10. Scott Wheeldon, 17. Ben Fisher, 8. Rhys Lovegrove, 14. Matt Cook.

Crusaders: 26. Clinton Schifcoske; 1. Gareth Thomas, 4. Vince Mellars, 27. Rhys Hanbury, 5. Gareth Raynor; 6. Michael Witt, 7. Jarrod Sammut; 8. Ryan O'Hara, 9. Lincoln Withers, 10. Mark Bryant; 11. Weller Hauraki, 12. Jason Chan, 13. Rocky Trimarchi.

Replacements: 16. Frank Winterstein, 17. Adam Peek, 20. Ben Flower, 23. Peter Lupton.

Referee: Mr P. Bentham                Attendance: 7,273