Noble said his players were caught "like rabbits in the headlights"

"It's up there with my worst days in the game," said the Warriors coach after the 37-24 defeat.

"I am very low and very dejected. I'm dejected for the Wigan club and the fans and players in particular.

"We've every right to be disappointed with what we dished up today. I am despondent and some of the players are pretty shattered - and why not?"

Noble admitted the game was lost in the opening quarter, admitting: "You don't expect that in a Challenge Cup semi-final. We got caught like rabbits in the headlights.

It's not very nice losing big games like this Brian Noble

"I still thought we had a chance at half-time but we just couldn't defend our line hard enough in the second half.

"It's not very nice losing big games like this. We didn't help ourselves, which is probably the most frustrating thing about it all."

Television pictures from the dressing room at half time showed Noble giving his team a strong talking-to, but he denied having been too hard on them.

"I wasn't furious, we just talked about things we weren't doing - that can happen in the anxiety of the semi-final," he said.