Lam leads the slaying of the Dragons

Doncaster's coach St John Ellis insists on calling the Dragons' home ground the "House of Pain" and had promised Wigan the traditional warm welcome in the build-up to this fifth-round tie. However, with Craig Smith in their team, Wigan were never going to be intimidated.

The big New Zealander is as tough as any prop in the world and his presence alone must have made Doncaster think twice about any cheap shots. A couple of powerful drives and ferocious tackles in the first few minutes signalled Smith's and Wigan's intentions and, with the midfield platform established, Adrian Lam and his back line shrugged off the absence of the injured Andy Farrell to run in nine tries.

The Irish wing Brian Carney scored a hat-trick in the first half-hour and Gareth Hock, the teenage loose forward making his first-team debut, added two in the second half as Wigan reached their half-century by three-quarter time.

Their coach Stuart Raper was unhappy with the way "a few individuals took their foot off the gas" in the last quarter but Doncaster deserved their two late tries for their discipline alone.

As Ellis said afterwards: "People can't say we're a dirty side after that. It would have been easy to lose our discipline but I said to the guys at half- time to show that we've got more class than that.

"I do want this to be the House of Pain but I've been saying that for four years; it just wasn't for Wigan. And it's not about being dirty, it's something for our forwards to take pride in, saying that we're not going to have teams coming here and bullying us."

"Maybe all the pre-match hype didn't come up to expectations," agreed Raper, who had been irritated by Ellis's inflammatory quotes. "If the crowd came here for a fight, they didn't get one."

Instead they saw a virtuoso performance from Lam, whose pace tormented Doncaster, just as it did so many Super League teams last summer. Jamie Ainscough and David Hodgson also scored for Wigan and, though the 28-0 half-time scoreline was harsh on Doncaster, it soon became a good deal worse.

In the 17 minutes after the restart Lam laid on four further tries but Terry Newton was forced off with a back injury after scoring his, a second worry for Wigan ahead of Friday's Super League match against Huddersfield after Mick Cassidy hobbled off with a pulled calf early on.

· Swinton sprung the surprise of the fifth round and reached the quarter-finals for the first time since 1972 with a 32-10 win against Featherstone.

Doncaster: Ross; Gleadhill, Golden, Irving, Lee; Mansson, Moxon; Handford, Edwards, David, Green, Lawton, M Walker. Subs: J Walker, Forsyth, Leaf, Colton.

Wigan: Radlinski; Carney, Ainscough, Hodgson, Dallas; O'Neill, Lam; C Smith, M Smith, Sculthorpe, Tickle, Cassidy, O'Loughlin. Subs Newton, Wild, Hock, Aspinwall.

Referee: I Smith (Oldham).