BBC Sport pundits Kevin Brown, Brian Noble and Lois Forsell had criticism aplenty for Warrington Wolves following their Challenge Cup exit on Sunday.
Daryl Powell’s men played against 12 men for the majority of the game against Wigan Warriors after Kaide Ellis’ early red card but were on the wrong end of a 14-12 scoreline.
An error-strewn display meant The Wire could never exert enough pressure on the numerically disadvantaged Wigan side and they found themselves defending their own line for most of the first half.
And as the BBC rounded off their coverage of the game, former Warrington half-back Brown said his old club got what they deserved.
“They’re out of the cup, but they’ve left it out there,” he said.
“They’ve not performed anywhere near their best, they had a numerical advantage but were so poor with the ball.
“I can’t remember a game where any team’s just continued to disrespect the ball as much, so they got what they deserved.
“There was a period in that second half where it looked like they’d almost given up as they were getting that frustrated.”
Noble, who lifted the Challenge Cup as head coach of Bradford Bulls in 2003, added he thought Wire “brain-exploded” in their quest to open Wigan up.
“The send-off affected Warrington more than it affected Wigan,” he said.
“Wigan showed all the values – the integrity, the honesty, the guts – that you can’t really measure in rugby league.
“They made the decision the minute he was sent off that they were still going to win this game, and they got better and grew from there.
“They stuck to their system which was fantastically simple, but Warrington brain-exploded on every occasion they possibly could trying to get to the other end with a flash play.
“They needed to replicate what Wigan were doing to get themselves up the other end, where their prowess alone and George Williams’ kicking game would probably have got them the win.”
Leeds Rhinos women’s head coach Forsell highlighted Warrington’s work without the ball also, with Wigan able to create several opportunities in spite of their disadvantage.
“They had to be aggressive from marker and have loads of hunger about them, and they didn’t,” she said.
“They had no real line speed and energy in defence – Wigan marched them all the way down the field and it’s really hard to get the ball back in the right areas if you’re going to do that in defence.”
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