SAM BURGESS told his Warrington Wolves players to be proud amid the heartbreak of Challenge Cup final defeat.
Despite going into the game as heavy underdogs, Warrington led for almost all of the second half and were less than three minutes away from victory over Hull KR.
After Tom Davies’ try and Mikey Lewis’ conversion snatched the trophy from their grasp, coach Burgess said: “You don’t always get what you deserve.
“I don’t think deserved to lose today. We controlled the game well and executed our game well.
“You could all see we controlled the game for large parts. Unfortunately these things can happen.
“We turned up to do our job and become winners. It will be a tough one for the players to understand. They’ll feel they shouldn’t have lost today.
“They’re really disappointed in there but they should be really proud of themselves.
“We came and executed a plan. We got ourselves in a winnable position and the last couple of minutes just didn’t work for us. It’s in the history books now.”
Warrington’s performance defied an inconsistent season to date in which they have lost more league matches than they have won.
They are currently eighth in the table but Burgess can hope better times are ahead.
“Suffering and pain and loss are really crucial to your growth and development as a group,” he said.
“There’s a lot of pain in there but we’ll take a lot of out of it.
“Everyone can see what sort of team we are. Although our form in the league is not where it needs to be everyone is aware of who we are and what we stand for as a group.”