THE passion and commitment of the Wolves players is not their problem and never has been, head of coaching and rugby Tony Smith says.

After Saturday’s 27-26 Challenge Cup defeat to Wigan, the players were visibly emotional and gathered for a team huddle on the pitch after the final hooter.

Smith says combining their enthusiasm with better execution will get them upwardly mobile again, starting with tomorrow’s visit of Catalans Dragons.

“I haven’t questioned their passion and desire, they give it their all every week,” he said.

“Our execution has let us down and some of our errors have frustrated the players as much as the coaches and supporters.

“It’s about eliminating some of those and executing the crucial plays that are necessary to win games.

“Games can swing on the back of a couple of errors in a row. The focus is removing some of those and adding that to the passion and desire we have shown.”

Catalans will be under the stewardship of former England coach Steve McNamara for the first time on Saturday after he was appointed as the replacement for the departed Laurent Frayssinous.

McNamara was Smith’s assistant during his spell in charge of the national team, but the Wire boss says the Dragons were a dangerous enough proposition regardless of who was in charge.

“They could perform with or without a new coach because they’ve got good players. We can’t account for anything other than them performing well,” he said.

“We’ve been preparing for them to perform well. We know where their strengths and weaknesses are and it’s up to us to handle them.

“It’s about the players on the park, not the coach in the stands.

“Steve can worry about whether he gets a response from them, all we need to worry about is being better than them.”