How Orr got the Jungle roaring again in remarkable comeback

To the latest generation of Castleford fans, Danny Orr has earned instant hero status through incisive displays in the club’s excellent start to Super League XVI.

The experienced play-maker has been a key figure since returning from Harlequins but, long before his current promptings in the black and gold, elder supporters could recite plenty of other telling performances, none more so than in this game against Hull FC.

Eight years have passed since Orr, pictured, helped inspire a remarkable comeback to deny the visibly shocked Airlie Birds.

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The East Yorkshire club were leading 26-8 with just nine minutes remaining at a silenced Jungle, their dominance and control utterly convincing.

However, when Shaun McRae’s side decided to rest easy heading into the closing stages, they were made to pay a heavy price.

Orr – who would earn a lucrative move to Wigan at the end of the season – initiated the renaissance with a try forged from his trademark stepping run following Tom Saxton’s break.

Soon after, Michael Eaton nipped in to intercept Richie Barnett’s pass and score from 45m, showing the intuition which would prompt Hull to sign the Australian a few months later.

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Then, Damien Gibson rose high to gather Orr’s pinpoint crossfield kick, leaving Wayne Bartrim, the hooker who had improved both previous scores, faced with a nervy conversion attempt to tie the game with its last play.

The hooker did not falter, maintaining his 100 per cent record to earn the delirious hosts a truly implausible point.

A fascinating fixture was marred by a horrific quadruple fracture to the leg of Matt Crowther, the luckless Castleford-born Hull FC winger who had just returned from a calf problem but would, it emerge, never play another Super League game again. Crowther, part of the famous Sheffield Eagles Challenge Cup-winning side five years earlier, failed to recover and was cruelly forced into early retirement.

Steve Prescott’s inaccuracy with the boot also contributed to the visitors returning with only a point.

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The full-back managed just one from four of his first-half attempts as he battled in vain with a swirling wind. Prescott had scored the opening try after surging onto Chris Chester’s defence-splitting pass.

The impressive loose-forward then burst clear to set up the first of ex-Kiwi captain Barnett’s two tries to make it 14-8 at the break before Richard Horne jinked in.

Colin Best dived over, Prescott adding two more goals, as Hull took charge but Graham Steadman’s men responded with Orr – who had scored their first try by accelerating through a gap off Bartrim’s pass – taking centre stage.

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