Quins rally to tame Tigers

Harlequins battled back from a 14-0 half-time deficit with 44 unanswered points to end Castleford's Challenge Cup campaign at the first hurdle.

This fourth round clash was the ultimate game of two halves as Cas dominated the opening stanza, then the hosts ran in seven tries after the interval.

The Tigers had marginally the better of a tough-tackling opening played in driving rain, but had to wait almost half an hour to break the deadlock.

Both sides had half-chances to score, Jon Wells seeing his pass intercepted by Castleford's Andrew Henderson with the line beckoning, and Brent Sherwin's clever kick for the visitors just evading the pursuers.

Subdued

But after the early exchynges the visitors finally hit their straps and punished a strangely subdued Quins side with a succession of scores.

Anthony Thackeray's grubber kick was fielded by Michael Shenton to plunge over, Craig Huby converting.

Then, after a Huby penalty, quick hands from Stuart Donlan and Kirk Dixon released Adam Fletcher to cross in the corner.

Dixon added another penalty as Castleford stretched their advantage to what looked - in these conditions - a possible match-winning three scores .

But the secxond half was almost entirely one-way traffic after Harlequins clawed their way back into the game within 12 minutes of the restart.

A well-timed Henry Paul pass saw Michael Worrincy weave his way over, and moments later Chad Randall burrowed through after Chris Melling was held.

Rob Purdham converted both and struck a penalty to tie the scores at 14-14.

Tiring

Quins took advantage of a tiring Castleford when Tony Clubb leapt highest to gather Orr's cross kick to give the hosts the lead for the first time.

Man-of-the-match Orr then got in on the act, weaving past a host of would-be tacklers to score under the posts.

And further late scores from David Howell, Gareth Haggerty and Danny Ward completed the turnaround, condemning Cas to a pretty miserable evening's trip north.