4th Round
Harlequins 44 d. Castleford Tigers 14

2008 Challenge Cup Index [Draw] [Club Headlines]

Location: United Kingdom > National > First Grade Competition: Challenge Cup

Stunning second half performance sees Quins romp to victory
Sun April 20, 2008
Source: www.quins.co.uk

A stirring second half comeback from Harlequins Rugby League saw them overcome a 14 point half time deficit to storm into the fifth round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup.

Inspired by Castleford old boy Danny Orr, who repeatedly tore his hometown club to shreds in an outstanding display, Quins racked up 44 unanswered points in a brilliant 40 minute performance.

A shock result looked on the cards at half time with Castleford deservedly 14-0 up, but with Orr and Henry Paul pulling the strings, Quins bounced back from last week's drubbing at St Helens in style.

Head coach Brian McDermott said: "I don't think we played that poorly in the first half. Castleford just capitalised on a few errors and scored a couple of good tries. The message at half time was that we could get back into the game. We just blew the legs off Cas in the second half. There was a huge change of momentum."

With controversial former sprinter and current Castleford trialist Dwain Chambers an interested observer, Quins, still lacking stars Mark McLinden and Scott Hill, started strongly with Orr making a strong break up the middle. Captain Rob Purdham also went close following a short Orr pass.

Castleford's first attack of note saw impressive fullback Stuart Donlan make a searing break only to be denied by strong Quins defence.

On 18 minutes winger Tony Clubb collected Henry Paul's high kick but was held up over the line. However, it was the Yorkshire side who opened the scoring when centre Michael Shenton won the race to Anthony Thackeray's neat grubber. Second rower Craig Huby converted.

Quins had a try harshly disallowed when Matt Gafa raced onto Paul's kick through. The Australian off-loaded to Rikki Sheriffe but the in-form wingman was adjudged to have dropped the ball over the line after a valiant effort by Donlan. Huby extended the Tigers' lead with a penalty after Paul was penalised for holding down and they went further ahead through a try from Adam Fletcher after a lovely backline move involving Thackeray, Donlan and Kirk Dixon. A Dixon penalty then put Cas 14 points to the good at half time.

Quins started the second half in fine style with two tries in four minutes. First Paul produced a lovely short ball to send Mike Worrincy through a huge hole with the Londoner rounding Donlan to plunge over under the posts. Then hooker Chad Randall burst past several defenders to go over. Purdham converted both to cut the deficit to two points, before adding a penalty on 52 minutes to level the scores.

Orr created an opportunity for Melling with a neat chip through but the Great Britain man knocked on after dribbling past Donlan. Just before the hour mark Clubb outjumped the Cas defence to take Orr's inch-perfect kick to put Quins in the lead for the first time before a brilliant solo effort from Orr reinforced the Londoners' superiority. The Castleford-born play maker slalomed his way past several defenders from 30 metres out as Quins started to assume full control of the contest.

Victory was asssured when first Howell scored from Randall's kick with ten minutes left and then substitute Gareth Haggerty brushed aside the weak attempted tackle of Thackeray to go over in the left hand corner. The icing was put on the cake when Danny Ward grabbed a deserved try with a couple of minutes left.

Report source: www.quins.co.uk


Ward relishing Carnegie Challenge Cup opportunity
Fri April 18, 2008
Source: www.quins.co.uk

Two-time Challenge Cup Finalist and Quins RL prop, Danny Ward, thinks the Cup tie this Saturday may be just what the Harlequins need to bounce back from last weekend's loss to St Helens.

Having joined the Quins for the 2008 season, Danny Ward has settled in quickly and in the opening rounds made quite an impact on the team's performance. A few months into the season, Ward is pleased with how things are shaping up, saying:

"I'm happy with my own form and the way the team is going, we've started strongly. There are always areas that we need to improve and we can look back on and be disappointed with but there are 11 or so games gone and we are in there.

"We've played some good stuff and we are capable of a lot more I think and hopefully we can kick on for the rest of the season."

This Saturday sees Harlequins RL take on Castleford Tigers in the Fourth Round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup. Ward thinks this is the perfect opportunity to get back on track after last Friday night's loss at Knowsley Road.

"The loss to Saints was disappointing and all the boys were gutted after the game, but come Monday everyone was switched on and focussed on the task at hand, the Cup game.

"There is no better way to bounce back from that than with a Challenge Cup game. It's knock out football so everyone is going to be throwing everything into it, it makes for a really good contest.

"We've been working hard at training, we've done some good work on the field and in the gym and we are rearing to go again. We are all looking forward to it."

The game will be played at The Twickenham Stoop this Saturday 19 April, kick off at 5.30pm.

Tickets are still available and cost just 10 Adults / 8 Concessions / 2 Juniors. Junior season ticket holders enter free.

Book your tickets now online at www.quins.co.uk or call the Harlequins Ticket Office on 0208 410 6000.

News sent by: www.quins.co.uk

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