Preparation did its job for Wolves (From Warrington Guardian)

Preparation did its job for Warrington Wolves

7:53pm Sunday 13th May 2012 in Wolves news

WOLVES' head of coaching and rugby Tony Smith was proud of his team after their Challenge Cup quarter-final success over Catalan Dragons in France.

The performance was far from flawless but he paid tribute to the team effort for achieving a win that no other visiting side has managed in Perpignan this year.

And he said that the Easter Monday 44-16 defeat in France had helped lift his side for today's clash.

"It was tough to get the win as everyone so far has found this season," he said.

"It is a tough place to come to but we prepared well.

"Everything we planned for pretty much happened.

"Catalan are a big threat. We had a good plan and we stuck to it for most of it but we gave some of our plan a miss at the start of the second half when we went away from things and we lost control of the match at that point for a little while.

"I felt we pretty much controlled the first half.

"I'm a bit disappointed that it came back closer but we know they are a team that can score points and a couple of lapses and you pay a big price which we did at times.

"When you've had a defeat and quite an embarrassing score for us in recent times that is fairly inspirational and motivational, too.

"I was pleased with all the players right across the board. It takes a team effort to beat a good team like the Dragons."

Wolves move on to face Huddersfield Giants in the semi finals.

Smith said: "It is nice to be alive and in the draw.

"We will look forward it. It didn't really matter who we drew next we are just pleased to be in it.

"We knew the game against Catalan would be a tough ask and we arguably had the toughest draw of this last round so we'll have another tough one coming up as the stakes get bigger and bigger the closer you get, which we are excited about."