Super League play-offs: Clinical St Helens thrash Hull KR

Adam Swift: Ran in hat-trick during easy St Helens win

The contest was effectively over by half-time as the hosts ran in six tries before the break at Langtree Park.

Rovers had dominated St Helens on three occasions this season, twice winning during April and then again in May, but were not given a look in during Saturday's clash.

The result means St Helens will play Leeds in one of the preliminary semi-finals, while Hull FC will take on Huddersfield in the other clash.

The visiting side actually made a bright start and capitalised with a try as Lincoln Withers went close before Liam Salter touched down.

But Saints responded by pouring forward, scoring three tries in five minutes.

The first was beautifully created by Jonny Lomax for Francis Meli to power over, then full-back Lomax stabbed a kick through which Swift pounced on to score the second.

Onslaught

The Saints onslaught continued when James Roby cut through poor Rovers tackling and Sia Soliola strolled in from 50 metres.

With Rovers now firmly under the cosh, Anthony Laffranchi had a try ruled out by video official Ben Thaler after Tony Puletua had knocked on in the build-up.

But the next try came after 31 minutes when Lance Hohaia dummied his way through and offloaded to Jordan Turner to cross the line.

Turner slotted over his fourth successful conversion and at 24-4 the game was already effectively over.

There was no coming back for Rovers as Tommy Makinson dived in for Saints' fifth try and Swift chimed in for good measure to make it 34-4 at half-time.

Kris Welham thought he had got one back for Rovers after 47 minutes but it was chalked off by Thaler, and Saints replied with another try as Roby connected with Hohaia for a simple score.

Swift was next to benefit to grab his hat-trick as the hosts, but Michael Dobson, in his final match before leaving for the NRL, had the final say by converting Craig Hall's effort late on.