Steve Price: Catalans deserved Challenge Cup trophy

Drew Darbyshire

Photo courtesy of Richard Long

Warrington coach Steve Price admitted Catalans fully deserved their Challenge Cup victory.

The Wolves fell short to a 20-14 defeat against the Dragons in the Challenge Cup final at Wembley Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The Dragons became the first ever non-British team to win the historic cup competition, while also winning their first ever major trophy.

Although gutted, Price was humble in defeat and praised Catalans on their performance.

Speaking after the game, he said: “I will give credit where it’s due, I thought Catalans were the better team today.

“Credit to Catalans, they defended really well. Their goal-line defence was very spirited so credit to them. The intensity they played with was far superior to how we played.

“We didn’t show the best of ourselves, especially in the first 25 minutes. It is not the standard that we set ourselves on.

“We had plenty of chances in the second half but our detail throughout the whole game wasn’t where it needed to be and that was the most frustrating thing. We certainly had chances. Bennie [Westwood] was close to going over the line but it wasn’t to be.”

Warrington are still in with a good chance of making the Super League semi-finals, but Price revealed that they need to improve.

He added: “We can take a lot of lessons out of the game.

“We should have started better. We need to learn how to stick to our gameplan and how to stay in the game for long periods. We weren’t good enough today.”

Warrington will now turn their attention on the Super 8s. They host Hull FC at the Halliwell Jones Stadium on Thursday, 7:45pm kick-off.