Andrew Henderson says Warrington Wolves must ask questions

Focus will be on getting the disappointing Challenge Cup Final loss to Catalans Dragons out of their system and getting themselves right for the final push towards a play-offs place.

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Wolves must ask questions so that Wembley let down doesn’t happen again

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GUARDIAN VERDICT: Catalans Dragons 20 Warrington Wolves 14

The Wire did not do themselves any justice in the 20-14 loss at Wembley.

“We’ve got to dust ourselves down, we can’t dwell on it too much,” said assistant coach Andrew Henderson.

“We’ve got to look into it and we’ve got to answer some questions, and the players are going to have to ask some questions of themselves and each other to make sure that we don’t make that happen again.

“We have to bounce back at home against Hull this week and get our Super League campaign back on track and secure the semi-final spot to give ourselves a chance of the big one.”

St Helens, the Super League runaway leaders, struggled to get back on track in the week following their shock semi-final loss to Catalans at Bolton.

But has Henderson seen the character in the Wire players through the season to be able to make a better job of it.

“If you look over the season when we’ve come off the back of a tough defeat we’ve generally bounced back the week after,” said the former London Broncos head coach.

“So I’m hopeful, if we look after ourselves, and we execute what we need to in terms of training and preparation then there’s no reason why we can’t bounce back, can get back on the horse and take another step closer to securing that semi-final position.”

Henderson reflected on where it all went wrong for The Wire on Saturday.

A poor start, in which Catalans took a second-minute lead and soon found themselves 8-0 behind, appeared to knock them off kilter and tries conceded in the minutes either side of the interval left them 20-6 adrift.

“We spoke about the start of the game and how important it was going to be not just for us but for the overall outcome of the game,” said Henderson.

“We knew Catalans would play with a lot of emotion and we knew that in those first 20-25 minutes they would really come at us, which is exactly what they did.

“They were tenacious, they were determined. We probably just didn’t execute the plan or the plays we’d practiced at training through the week well enough.

“I thought our kicking game at times wasn’t where it needed to be, so we just couldn’t get any good outcomes to the end of our sets and effectively we just didn’t earn any field possession.

“I felt we fell into the trap at times of maybe trying to force that extra pass and trying to make it happen as opposed to just staying patient and going through the process of building pressure.

“Ultimately, in the second half we did find a way to get ourselves back into the game.

“We hung in there and stayed in the fight. That is something we’ve built into the team, there is a resilience, a toughness and a competitive edge to us.

“I thought we did really well in that regards to give ourselves a chance at the back end but unfortunately we just didn’t have the answers to unlock that Catalans defence on the try line in the last 10 minutes.

“I think there were opportunities to level the game and go into extra time or potentially win the game if there was enough time but we weren’t quite good enough on the day and I have to give full credit to Catalans.

“I thought they were very methodical about how they went about their business. They had a lot of good energy, were determined and thoroughly deserved their victory.

“The great thing is that we have an opportunity to turn things round. We’ve got another competition that we’re in.”