Sam Burgess was proud of the performance his young Warrington Wolves side turned in on their final game of the Super League season.
The Wolves were beaten 28-20 by Hull KR at Craven Park, with the Robins winning the League Leaders’ Shield as a result, but the Wolves pushed them all the way.
Warrington actually took the lead at KR through Josh Thewlis and while they went in at the break 10 points behind, they fought back to retake the lead with Sam Stone, Adam Holroyd and Thewlis all getting over.
Ultimately, Rovers had too much for Warrington with Arthur Mourgue and Tyrone May touching down late. But, that didn’t take away from Burgess’ pride in his side’s performance.
“It’s a defeat but we came here and competed and that’s all I could ask for really. I had a really inexperienced squad so I was really proud of them tonight,” Burgess told the press at Craven Park.
“I know what team we have here and I know who we are. For whatever reason we’ve just not been it for a little period. My belief has never wavered. Everyone else maybe has around us but I’ve not, neither have the players.
“We know we have a lot of hard work to do and the good thing is, as you saw tonight, they’re willing. We’ll be alright. We’ll be OK.”
Warrington could well have gone 12 points up in the first half after Cai Taylor-Wray saw a try ruled out for obstruction.
On that decision, Burgess said: “I can’t tell you my honest thoughts about any decisions because you get fined.
“I’m not willing to make any comment on anything to do with any call on the game because people get upset about it and fine you. You can’t say a word so I won’t say a word.”
Warrington Wolves boss explains Matt Dufty call
Burgess sprung quite the surprise before the game, too, with Matt Dufty coming back into the side at centre, with Taylor-Wray preferred at full-back.
“I only had 16 players to begin with but I brought Lucas Green back, who’s not been with us all year,” Burgess said, explaining his selection decision. “I didn’t play him tonight because he’s playing reserves, but I just had him there just in case.
“Duft was one of the 16 and Cai is more experienced at full-back at centre and Dufty is a very intelligent player, I thought he looked pretty good out there at times.
“He’s misunderstood sometimes, he was comfortable with it.
“We all know what he’s capable of. There are a few others in the group who have not reached their potential this year and that’s my job to figure out how to better them.
“I thought he was good tonight for us. Everyone has an opinion on him because he’s a high profile player and he’s a headline. I thought he did a good job and I’ll leave it at that.”
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