THE PAIN of Saturday's Carnegie Challenge Cup final defeat was felt acutely by every member of the Hull squad but for one player the hurt was made more bearable by the knowledge that Wembley had allowed him to put his career back on track.
Richard Horne may not have been as influential as he wanted to be but the mere fact that he came through 63 minutes of a physically draining match played in intense heat enabled him to put the darkest chapter of his career behind him.
Horne only l
earned he was playing on Wednesday when Adam Dykes's knee gave up the ghost and the 26-year-old acquitted himself well in his first match since suffering a potentially career-ending neck injury in April.
Lucky pants??? Click here to read John Ledger's hilarious rugby league blog."I have lost a fair bit of weight since then but the club's backroom staff have done a lot of work with me and got me physically strong and probably in the best shape I've been in for a long while," said Horne, who was welcomed back with a shuddering tackle by St Helens prop James Graham.
"I think I needed that. When you come back from a serious injury there's always doubt in your mind but to go out there and take a big shot like that from one of their biggest forwards showed me that everything was good."
Horne believes the likes of Danny Washbrook, Tom Briscoe and Tommy Lee will learn much from their involvement in Saturday's final and will make the club stronger for what they have been through.
"They've gained some valuable big game experience today and all this season which is that's going to stand us in good stead in years to come," he said. "They're hurting now – we're all hurting – but we'll bounce back bigger and stronger for this."
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