‘It’s a mess’: Sam Burgess slams captain’s challenge after Hull KR defeat

Warrington Wolves coach Sam Burgess had no complaints with his side’s defeat to Hull KR in the Challenge Cup semi-finals – but insisted the ‘mess’ of a captain’s challenge system needs ‘tidying up’.

The Wire were well beaten by the reigning holders in Doncaster on Sunday afternoon, losing 32-12 to see their bid to win back the cup come to a disappointing end.

Burgess admitted he was pleased with how his side hung in against a Rovers side close to their best, but could not hide his disappointment at the captain’s challenge system.

The Wire challenged multiple calls in the second half – with lengthy delays leading to inconclusive verdicts and stunting the flow of the game.

And Burgess said that it detracted from the overall contest, which took well over two hours to finish – before then calling on the powers that be to tighten up the system and make it better for the sport.

He said: “You have to be careful what you say because they don’t like it when you tell the truth. But the captain’s challenge.. I don’t know if we’re watching the same game.

“I don’t know who the third referee was but I mean.. some of those calls. The inconclusive stuff.. they get decisions wrong all the time but how long do they want to take? It’s 6:10pm, we kicked off at 4pm. Two hours and ten minutes. I’m disappointed with the result but.. it’s a mess, it needs tidying up. I say it every week.”

Burgess admitted he was happy with the effort shown by his side, but conceded they fell short in crucial moments.

He said: “We didn’t get into the game early. In the first half we didn’t build any momentum or anything. We’ll take plenty of lessons out of it. We went away from things that have been working for us so it’s disappointing. But I’m proud of our effort, we never stopped trying. 

“I was happy with them for hanging in (at half-time) because it could have been way worse. We gave them so much territory and weren’t clinical with the ball and that makes defence hard. It’s disappointing but we’ll take lessons that we hope help us at the back end.”