Quins late-show stuns Tigers
Two late tries from Harlequins poached a 22-16 win over Castleford who remain bottom of Super League without a point to their name.
Last Updated: 02/03/08 7:40pm
Two late tries from Harlequins poached a 22-16 win over Castleford who remain bottom of Super League without a point to their name.
A nip-and-tuck contest at The Jungle seemed to be heading the way of Castleford as the game entered the final five minutes with Tigers 16-12 in the ascendancy courtesy of a Luke Dorn try just before the hour-mark.
However, with time ticking away, Harlequins made a decisive move as Jon Wells touched down with Henry Paul adding the extras to edge his side in front at 18-16.
Victory was then confirmed as Rob Purdham ran in a try virtually on the hooter to signal Quins' third triumph from their four outings thus far in the new campaign.
Castleford drew first blood with a well-worked try from full-back and man of the match Ryan McGoldrick, who strode onto a cute inside pass from scrum-half Brent Sherwin after 11 minutes. Joe Westerman converted.
The visitors levelled when prop Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook rumbled over under the posts, allowing Purdham the chance to level the scores which he duly took.
Six minutes later the hosts were back in front when centre Kirk Dixon bundled over in the corner after a clever switch of play from The Tigers.
However, former Tigers skipper Danny Orr edged Quins back in front at 12-10 and it required a penalty from Joe Westerman to restore parity before the interval.
Purdham came close to breaking the deadlock once again only to lose the ball over the try-line.
That error looked like proving costly as Dorn sliced through the Quins backline to touch down on 57 minutes, making the score 16-12.
It appeared enough to earn Cas a first win since returning to Super League, but three minutes from time Orr twice hacked on to send in Wells for a crucial score that Paul converted to move the visitors 18-16 ahead.
Confirmation of the road success came shortly afterwards as Purdham latched on to another Orr kick to claim the final score of the match.