Last cut is the deepest as Jorgensen shatters Orrell

Orrell 44 Northampton 55

Edge Hall Road staged one of the greatest cup ties in the history of the RFU's knockout competition. In terms of high drama, tension and excitement, it will be difficult to better. Northampton squeezed through to the quarter finals of the Powergen Cup at the end of a shattering 100-minute contest.

Amazingly, this sixth round tie produced 14 tries – six by Orrell, in defeat, and eight by the Saints who scored three match-winning tries in extra time.

No praise is high enough for the Wigan side who came so close to causing a major upset by pushing the Premiership side to the limits. The Lancashire club who are fourth in National One played at a level not seen since their days as a First Division club which ended in 1997.

Orrell, clearly the underdogs from the start, performed aggressively and ferociously throughout a memorable encounter that finished in near darkness. They were heroic, none more so than 24-year-old flanker Nick Easter who scored a hat-trick on 34, 51 and 66 minutes.

Exhausted after such a gruelling effort Easter said: "It was a very tiring match and we were very unlucky. But credit to Northampton for coming back when we were ahead by 10 points on 92 minutes.

"But the Saints showed that they have the qualities of a Premiership side. And I'm really proud of all our boys because we rose to the challenge.''

Another outstanding Orrell performance was delivered by the No 8 Drew Hickey, who stormed all over the park to create several dangerous moments that the Premiership side found difficult to handle.

At the end of 80 minutes the crowd thought they may well have seen everything in terms of thrills and spills. However, the 10 minutes each way of extra time was just as heart stopping.

First blood went to Orrell who moved ahead 39-34 on 88 minutes as flanker Ben Lewitt scored a dramatic try under the posts and, with Richard Welding converting, Orrell went ahead 41-34. Four minutes later the excitement rose even further as Welding put over a penalty, stretching Orrell's lead to 10 points.

Northampton, meanwhile, must have been wondering just what had hit them. Nevertheless they showed great character to storm back to clinch a famous win. Incredibly, the Saints scored three tries in added time – on 95, 98 and 100 minutes. Scrum half Ian Vass scored twice and, in between, centre Peter Jorgensen completed his hat-trick.

At the end of such a gripping and nail-biting encounter both sides left to a standing ovation from a crowd of 1,100. Considering the quality of the Cup tie, it should have been attended by several thousand more.

Orrell will no doubt be regretting the four goals – two penalties and two conversions that were missed. But such criticism is unworthy considering the stature of their performance and commitment of their play.

The Lancashire club led 13-12 at the half-time break – without any suggestion that they would be capable of stretching Northampton and coming so close to throwing them out of the Powergen Cup. On this evidence Orrell's ambition of regaining their place in the Premiership could well be achieved within three years.

Northampton may well have fielded an understrength side and when Orrell were leading by 10 points in extra time no doubt they were having second thoughts about their selection. Having said that, the Saints were big stars: the England hooker Steve Thompson, the former England fly-half Paul Grayson and the Scotland prop Tom Smith, all came on to play a part in this tremendous game.

However the Saints man who repeatedly caught the eye was full-back Bruce Reihana, who made several glorious runs into the Orrell defence. By contrast his defence was by no means always foolproof nor watertight.

Orrell: S Barrow; R Welding, A Craig, W Kelly, S Haughton; P Jones (G Connolly, 54), S So'oialo; A Livesey, M Howe, S Barretto, S Moore, C Bentley, N Easter, B Lewitt, D Hickey.

Northampton: B Reihana; J Sleightholme (C Hyndman, 79), P Jorgensen, M Tucker, O Ripol (P Grayson, 54); J Brooks, I Vass; R Morris (T Smith, 40) D Richmond (S Thompson, 74) C Budgen, J Phillips (S Williams, 46), M Lord, A Blowers (R Hunter, 60), D Fox, M Soden

Referee: G Ashton-Jones (Wales).