SAM Burgess refused to offer any excuses for his Warrington Wolves side's performance in their Las Vegas defeat.
In a historic first ever Super League match to be played on US soil, The Wire produced their worst performance since Burgess took charge and were humbled 48-24 by Wigan Warriors at Allegiant Stadium.
In truth, a 24-0 half-time deficit proved way too much to come back from and although a late rally meant they ended up reaching that number of points, the Warriors had already put the game beyond reach.
And while he cited some "fractional" early moments going against his side - notably the decision to chalk off a Toby King try for a ball steal with the game scoreless - Burgess had no complaints about the result.
Here is everything Burgess said to the media post-match...
Q: That must be an incredibly tough one to take, Sam?
SB: We’re pretty disappointed to concede 48 points. That’s way too many.
It’s the first time since I’ve coached these guys that we’ve been truly out of a game – we’ve always been in touching distance but Wigan were pretty classy.
They made us pay and put us to bed in the first half.
Q: Obviously the question has to be “why?” Was it Wigan being too good or you guys not being good enough?
SB: A bit of both – I thought they played great but we’ll have to have a good look at it again to see what we can put it down to.
We missed far too many tackles, I know that.
We had a lot of effort and spirit in the back end, but it was too late.
We’ve got a couple of things to learn as a group if we want to move forward. We’ll take plenty out of tonight but at the moment, it’s disappointing.
Q: Like you say there, you have always been in games since you’ve been head coach but not tonight – is this going to be the biggest test of you as a head coach in terms of how you pick these boys up from this?
SB: I’ll be alright and the boys are alright.
It’s not like it’s happening every other week – in 18 months, it’s the first time we’ve been beaten like that.
I’m not going to throw the baby out with the bath water – I’ll handle it like I’d handle any win or loss. We’ll look at where we can improve, what might be breaking us down and try and improve as we go.
Q: You had a try overturned by the video ref when the game was scoreless – would that have made an impact if it was given?
SB: I don’t know.
Let’s say the first couple of tries in the game are fractional – it was a tough call on Kingy to have that try taken away but did it affect the game? No – we conceded 48 points.
Theirs were tight tries and 50-50 calls – I thought Matt Dufty made a great defensive play for the one in the corner so that was a real tough one and very, very close.
They then had one that bounces off their players’ chest, goes forward and Bevan picks it up, one from a kick that’s knocked back – they’re 50-50 moments and we didn’t grab them.
We’re not making excuses – we’ve got a lot of things we can work on. We got a great lesson in competing on the big stage today and taking moments. We missed a few of ours.
Q: What do you think having this game here will do for Super League? Should we see more of it going forward?
SB: I hope so – the exposure for the game has been fantastic.
Barring the result, the players have had a great week – they’ve taken to anything with energy and enthusiasm and the NRL have put on a great show.
Let’s hope we stay involved with it as Super League.
Q: You had your issues getting here earlier in the week – were the players affected too much by that?
SB: I don’t know – people looking for excuses could say that but I don’t think it affected them whatsoever.
It wasn’t ideal, but I don’t think it makes too much of a difference come today. We had a lot of time together to prep.
Q: What did you make of the potential crusher on Lachlan Fitzgibbon that was put on report?
SB: I feel like the referee forgot his whistle in the first half.
We all want a game that flows but putting something on report but not giving a penalty? I’m not sure how that works as he clearly thinks there’s some foul play in there?
Lachie couldn’t finish the game, so there was obviously something in it.
We’ve got to learn from it – like anything, we’ll review it with a neutral mind and try and be better for our fans and for everyone involved.
That’s our duty – to be better as a group and we’ve continuously been doing that. Today was a little blip.
