Andy Last has said he is “gutted” to exit the Coral Challenge Cup at the quarter-final stage having been beaten by Wigan Warriors yesterday afternoon.
The Black & Whites were defeated comfortably by Adrian Lam’s side, going down 36-4 on a poor afternoon at the AJ Bell Stadium.
And Hull’s lacklustre performance left head coach Last disappointed, having explained that a repeat performance of FC’s effort against Castleford was needed to get past the Warriors.
Speaking after the game, Last said: “We spoke about starting the game well and getting into the set-for-set stuff strongly. We needed to complete our sets and kick well and effectively replicate what we did against Castleford, and we didn’t do that.
“We had too many unforced individual errors coming out of yardage which has been our achilles heal. It really hurt us and Wigan punished us for making those errors.
“The one time we got into a good attacking position in the first half, we kicked the ball away and gave away a seven tackle set. We failed to put any sort of pressure on them while they had good field position and that really tired us out.”
Last continued: “I’m gutted. We didn’t give a good enough account of ourselves. We seem to lack a bit of belief when we go up against those top four teams.
“We wait to see what team turns up before we apply ourselves. It felt like we were a little bit in awe of them. It was evident against Warrington too. We need to go out there and impose ourselves on the game and not worry about what the opposition to do.”
With the Black & Whites facing a short turnaround once more taking on Salford this coming Thursday in Betfred Super League action, Last says his side are getting little time out on the training field to prepare for matches.
“That’s the problem – we’re not getting much time in-between games to put things right. All we’re doing is putting the players out there having done just a little bit of preview and now many reps on the field. We have one session leading into a Challenge Cup quarter-final which is really tough.
“We will recover and review tomorrow, followed by a light session on Monday. Tuesday the boys will be off for a recovery day and then Wednesday you’re straight into your Captain’s Run. So we’re not getting much times to fix things up, but it is the same for everyone and you just need to get on with it.”
Last also commented on the absence of Gareth Ellis going into the game. adding: “Gareth wasn’t able to make the game with a bit of a knock. He was close but we didn’t think it was worth risking.
“You have to be at 100% in games like this. It was a shame not to have him out there as he is a real inspiration leader for us and gives a real calming influence on the side. It was evident his experience wasn’t out there today.”
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