Carney hat-trick douses Dragons' fire

Doncaster 10 Wigan 5

Wigan's Irish winger Brian Carney snuffed out any suggestion of the romance of the Challenge Cup with a hat-trick of tries in the first half-hour to set the holders on their way to a comfortable fifth-round victory.

Wigan eventually scored nine tries before they relaxed and allowed Doncaster to make their own mark on the game, but it was Carney's early strikes that settled it into its inevitable course.

Carney set to work on subduing any genuine cup-tie atmosphere in the second minute when he got around the outside of the Dragons' defence for the first time, but the home side put in a strong effort for 20 minutes after that.

Their tackling was keen and some promising work with the ball in their hands was only ruined by their over-eagerness. But then the man-of-the match, Adrian Lam, made a defence-splitting break to set up Jamie Ainscough and Carney scored twice in three minutes to put Wigan in the clear.

David Hodgson scored straight from the base of a scrum before half-time and Wigan carried on the same way afterwards, with tries from Julian O'Neill and Terry Newton and two from Gareth Hock, making an eye-catching first-team debut.

By then the Super League club clearly felt they had done enough and slackened their efforts in a way that did not impress the Wigan coach, Stuart Raper. "We've got to be consistent over the 80 minutes and we didn't do that," he said.

Punishment came in the form of tries from Jason Lee and Matt Walker, and Doncaster could have had a couple more as they ended the game strongly. "I was very happy with our second half," said their coach St John Ellis. "If people expected us to lie down they had another think coming."

Further consolation for Doncaster was a bigger than usual turnout from local fans. "I hope they'll come again because I don't think we were disgraced," said Ellis.

Wigan's major worry was a calf strain that forced Mick Cassidy to join their injury list early in the game. "But when they get all their big guns back, they will be very, very difficult to beat," Ellis warned clubs hoping to take Wigan's trophy from them.

Doncaster: Ross, Gledhill, Golden, Irving, Lee, Mansson, Moxon, Handford, Edwards, David, Green, Lawton, M Walker. Substitutes used: J Walker, Forsyth, Leaf, Colton.

Wigan: Radlinski, Dallas, Hodgson, Ainscough, Carney, O'Neill, Lamb, C Smith, M Smith, Sculthorpe, Tickle, Cassidy, O'Loughlin. Substitutes used: Newton, Wild, Hock, Aspinwall.

Referee: I Smith (Oldham).