LEIGH LEOPARDS coach Adrian Lam admitted his team played “dumb” rugby at times in their semi-final loss to Warrington and said he did not see that performance coming.
The Leopards went down 21-14 with Warrington booking their place in the Challenge Cup final against Hull KR at Wembley on Saturday, June 7.
An emotionally-drained Lam faced the media after the defeat and was clearly disappointed at what he had witnessed from his team, hoping he can lift them ahead of the short turnaround game against Wigan on Friday.
“I am very frustrated and disappointed obviously,” said Lam. “It was just uncharacteristic penalties in difficult parts of the field that put us under pressure.
“There were just some dumb individual things at times during the game. We couldn’t find the rhythm. It was stop-start with three or four-minute breaks at different times.
“It was just nothing of who we are in terms of identity as a club. So, I am frustrated that we didn’t give ourselves a chance.”
Lam also admitted that in hindsight they probably scored too early when Edwin Ipape crossed inside the first 60 seconds.
“It can be that way sometimes,” he explained. “But again, that’s an attitude thing and how you interpret those moments.
“As good as it was for us, it probably made us get ahead of ourselves a bit, I think. We just ended up being clunky defensively and clunky with the ball. That is going to take some time to fix up.”
