Gardner was making his comeback after suffering an eye injury

St Helens: (36) 70
Tries: Meli 2, Wilkin 3, Graham, Wellens 2, Gardner 2, Sculthorpe, Fa'asavalu
Goals: Sculthorpe (11)

Rochdale: (0) 10
Tries: Fagborun, Andrews
Goals: King

Ade Gardner marked his return from an eye injury with two tries as Cup holders St Helens crushed National League One strugglers Rochdale.

Other highlights included a Paul Wellens brace to make it 16 in his last eight games and a Jon Wilkin hat-trick.

The first of Francis Meli's two was on nine minutes, with Wellens's two coming in four minutes just before the break.

Second-half tries by Bolu Fagborun and Eric Andrews helped the visitors avoid the indiginity of being white-washed.

The visitors began bravely before Leon Pryce and Willie Talau combined to put Meli over in the left-hand corner, and six minutes later former Everton trainee Matty Smith collected a Jason Cayless pass to put Wilkin over for his opening score.

As the bottom team in National League One visiting the world champions, Rochdale's task was tough enough before the game even began, but three Saints tries in quick succession made it even more difficult.

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The first came when James Roby's neat short pass set up prop James Graham to score, and then Wellens weighed in with his brace.

Both were the result of quick bursts of pace which left the defence flailing at thin air.

A delightful crossfield kick by Smith put the ball on a plate for Gardner to add another just before the break, and Paul Sculthorpe made it six conversions out of six to round off a perfect first half.

The interval only provided a temporary respite for the Hornets, as Matt Gidley and Keiron Cunningham set up Gardner and Wilkin respectively for their second tries after the restart.

A Wellens grubber kick set up Meli's second before Rochdale finally gave their small band of travelling fans reason to cheer.

Fagborun went over in the left-hand corner but a Sculthorpe try restored Saints' cushion.

Andrews added another Hornets try before Maurie Fa'asavalu and Wilkin finished off the try-scoring.

St Helens: Wellens, Gardner, Gidley, Talau, Meli, Pryce, Smith, Graham, Roby, Cayless, Wilkin, Sculthorpe, Hargreaves. Replacements: Fozzard, Cunningham, Clough, Fa'asavalu.

Rochdale: Hulse, Andrews, Patterson, King, Fagborun, Svabic, Hasty, Bailey, Corcoran, Smith, Gorski, Gledhill, Goulden. Replacements: Marsh, McConnell, C. Robinson, Benjafield