Hull KR displayed no sympathy for patched-up Castleford as the defending champions ran in nine tries to rout the Tigers 50-6 and move up to third in Betfred Super League.
Castleford are in the midst of an injury crisis and four players who joined this week – Tyler Dupree, Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e, Tom Nicholson-Watton and Brad Dwyer – all made their debuts at Craven Park.
Even so, it was an error-strewn performance from the makeshift visitors against rampant Rovers, who cruised to a sixth successive win in all competitions on the back of Tom Davies’ hat-trick of tries.
Karl Lawton, making a rare start at hooker, got the ball rolling with a brace, Tom Amone and Dean Hadley also dotted down in the first half as the Robins established a 34-0 half-time lead.
They took their foot off the gas after the break but Mikey Lewis and Joe Burgess still went over before Davies brought up the home side’s half-century of points, completing his treble in the process.
Karl Lawton grabbed a brace of tries
Rhyse Martin converted seven of his side’s tries and they head into next Sunday’s Challenge Cup semi-final against Warrington at Doncaster – a rematch of last year’s showpiece – with plenty of momentum.
Castleford, though, were the architects of their own downfall, with Zac Cini then Renouf Atoni fumbling the ball, and on both occasions the mistakes were punished as Lawton went over from dummy-half.
Laulu-Togaga’e was already showing signs of a nervy return to his former club and while the debutant caught a Lewis high kick. His loose handling was exposed by Peta Hiku’s tackle, allowing ex-Tiger Amone to saunter in for the simplest of tries.
The Castleford full-back fluffed his lines again and the hosts showed quick hands along the right, ending with Davies pirouetting past Jason Qareqare to dot down for his side’s fourth try.
Hadley then won the race to touch down from Elliot Minchella’s grubber and Davies went over in the right corner again just before half-time with an acrobatic finish.
Tom Davies scored a hat-trick of tries for Hull KR
The Castleford mistakes kept coming after half-time as another routine up-and-under caused an unlikely problem, with Darnell McIntosh spilling in his in-goal area, leading to Lewis scoring from his own kick.
Castleford had a spell of pressure but Hull KR, who had conceded just 38 points in their previous four matches, stoutly defended five consecutive sets on their line before showing their clinical finishing through Joe Burgess, who dived over on the left for his ninth try in his last five league outings.
Willie Peters’ side continued to probe away and pen their opponents deep into their own half and a swift move along the right ended with Davies sprinting 20 metres to win the race to the line for his third try.
Castleford, who also shipped 50 points against Hull FC last week, at least had the last word as Krystian Mapapalangi scored after latching on to a kick from Laulu-Togaga’e.
2026 Super League – key dates and what to look out for
- Super League in Paris: Sat Jun 6: Catalans Dragons v Wigan Warriors (Paris), 6:30pm UK time (Sky Sports)
- Magic Weekend: July 4-July 5
- Rivals Round reversed: July 23-July 26
- Elimination Play-offs: September 19-September 20
- Play-off semi-finals: September 26-September 27
- Grand Final: October 3, Old Trafford.
Sky Sports will again show every game of the Super League live this season – including two matches in each round exclusively live, with the remaining five matches each week shown on Sky Sports+
