LUKE Briscoe crossed four times as Featherstone booked their place in the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup’s fifth round, the Rovers sweeping aside North Wales 66-6 in a 13-try demolition.
Despite making a slow start to proceedings, with the Crusaders looking to upset the odds, John Duffy’s men took a comfortable three-score lead into the half-time break.
And following the restart, it was one-way traffic as Featherstone ran in nine unanswered tries to set up an April trip to Doncaster.
Man of the match Keal Carlile bagged the game’s first four-pointer on 10 minutes, with Ian Hardman adding the extras.
But Thomas Johnson converted his own score to level matters prior to the quarter-hour mark.
Back came the Rovers, though, with further first-half scores from Carlile, Matty Wildie and Brad Knowles to make it 22-6. Hardman went on to kick seven goals on the night.
Briscoe scored twice in seven minutes after the interval and completed his hat-trick just shy of the 58th minute.
Hardman crossed on the hour to surpass 600 club points – and become the Rovers’ fourth all-time top try scorer.
Then came Briscoe’s fourth before Josh Hardcastle and John Davies added their names to the scoresheet.
Wildie bagged his second of the night four minutes from time and Tom Holmes danced around an exhausted North Wales backline with just seconds remaining.
ROVERS: Hardman, Briscoe, Hardcastle, Taulapapa, Robinson, Wildie, Holmes, Cooper, Carlile, Brooks, Farrell, Davies, Lockwood. Subs: Hock, Mariano, Knowles, Maskill.
TRIES: Carlile (10, 23), Wildie (30, 76), Knowles (40), Briscoe (44, 47, 57, 73), Hardman (58), Hardcastle (60), Davies (70), Holmes (78).
GOALS: Hardman 7/13.
CRUSADERS: Johnson, Watkins, Thompsn, Baker, Conroy, Roper, Smith, Walker, Hudson, Millington, Houghton, Atherton, Case. Subs: Dandy, Brennan, Warburton, Trumper.
TRIES: Johnson (14).
GOALS: Johnson 1/1.
HALF-TIME: 22-6
REFEREE: J Roberts
ATTENDANCE: 1,098
MAN OF THE MATCH: Keal Carlile