RAMPANT Rovers ran in 13 tries to chalk up their biggest Betfred Championship win of the season at the South Leeds stadium, where they put bottom-of-the-table Hunslet to the sword in a dominant display.
A 26-minute minute first-half hat-trick from Derrell Olpherts and tries from Caleb Aekins and Gareth Gale gave dominant Rovers a handsome 22-0 cushion at the interval.
Rovers took just two second-half minutes to add try No6 from Nathan Glover with Connor Jones and Gale, with his second try of the game, Ben Reynolds and Caleb Aekins taking their lead out to 48-4
Jones’ second try of the game, a deserved try for Jimmy Beckett and a last-minute score from Ryan Hampshire, all converted, proved to be the icing on the cake for rampant Rovers.
Billy Jowitt notched a consolation try for Hunslet but by then Rovers were 40 points clear and they simply ran away from their hosts in a devastating last quarter.
Featherstone came into the match looking to chalk up their seventh win in eight league matches to consolidate their place in the play-off reckoning.
Rovers head coach made two starting changes and three alterations to his 17-man match-day squad with skipper Dany Addy making his 50th appearance for the club.
Connor Wynne came into the centre with Josh Hardcastle moving into the second row and Nathan Wilde replaced Sitaleki Akauola on the bench.
Rovers took just four minutes to notch their first try, finished by Aekins on the left after the scrum gave them a platform and Reynolds whipped the ball left to Wynne and his pass left Aekins with a walk-in.
Reynolds, who had a rare off night from the tee, added his only first-half conversion to get Rovers off to a flying start and a 6-0 lead early on which they looked to build on by pinning Hunslet back in their own half.
Reynolds came up inches short under the posts, but they made no mistake when they worked the ball left for Olpherts to finish well in the corner with 14 minutes gone.
Reynolds came up just short with the conversion, but Rovers were immediately back on the attack from the re-start.
Hunslet were reduced to 12 men in the 22nd minute when Nichol was sin-binned for a head-high tackle on Glover.
Rovers took immediate advantage with Olpherts’ second try of the game, although Reynolds again could not convert from the touchline.
Olpherts completed a first-half hat-trick in the 26th minute, crossing in the left corner after Reynolds, who was again unable to convert, whipped a great pass out to the left and Wynne set up an easy finish in the corner.
Within two minutes Rovers stretched their lead again when Hampshire’s cut-out pass took out two Hunslet defenders down the right and Gale finished in the corner.
Webb was tackled just short of the try-line after Hunslet coughed up the ball one tackle after the kick-off and Hampshire’s clever switch play allowed Reynolds, who converted, to put Glover in next to the posts for a flying start to the second half.
Leading 28-0, Rovers went looking to kill the match off completely as a contest as quickly as possible.
They went a step closer to doing just that when Moran broke the line and then showed superb composure to turn the ball inside to the supporting Jones.
He cruised in under the posts from 20 yards out to make the conversion child’s play for Reynolds.
Hard-working Hunslet notched a consolation try through Jowitt, who missed the conversion to make it 34-4 with 20 minutes to go.
Hampshire immediately opened Hunslet up with a clever kick to the right for Gale to gather and touch down with Reynolds adding conversion to give Rovers a match-winning 40-4 lead.
Reynolds added another try when Olpherts picked him out after Addy’s line break on halfway scythed open the tiring Hunslet defence and Reynolds again added the conversion.
Aekins added another Rovers try with Hunslet out on their feet, Jones added the conversion and two minutes later Jones, who again converted, grabbed his second try of a one-way contest to round off the scoring at 58-4 with two minutes to go.
But Rovers were not finished even then and converted tries from Beckett and Hampshire just before the hooter took the final score out to70-4.
Hunslet: Watson, Nichol, Welham, McEwan-Peters, Turner, Jowitt, Rugless, Hallas, Corbett, Foster, Kirby, Hall, Fletcher, Syme.
Interchanges: Clavering, O’Hanlon, Campbell, Wood.
Featherstone Rovers: Aekins, Gale, Wynne, Glover, Olpherts, Hampshire, Reynolds, Vuniyayawa, Jubb, Beckett, Hardcastle, Webb, Addy.
Interchanges: Jones, Moran, Springer, Wilde.
Referee: A. Belafonte