Wasps coach Warren Gatland said his side had been complacent following their Powergen Cup defeat to Division One team Pertemps Bees. The Birmingham part-timers beat the Premiership champions 28-24 and will go on to meet Newcastle.
Gatland said: "Mentally we weren't quite up for it, thinking about a semi-final rather than playing today.
"But we're not making any excuses. We were beaten by a better team who thoroughly deserved to win."
He added: "They dominated the second half and made the most of their opportunities and congratulations to them."
Gatland named a side containing only six first-team regulars, and which was missing England stars Lawrence Dallaglio and Josh Lewsey, as well as players such as Alex King, Craig Dowd, Mark van Gisbergen and Fraser Waters.
But he insisted they had worked hard on developing the right approach going into the last-16 encounter.
"It was always going to be that case a little bit, with a Premiership side against a Division One side and expecting to win," he said.
"We tried to eliminate that during the week but they were always going to come at us with all guns blazing.
"But that's rugby and that's the beauty of playing cup competitions. Hopefully, they'll go on and give Newcastle a good game."
Wasps are second in the Premiership, two points adrift of leaders Bath.
They face a four-week wait for their next game, against Rotherham at home.
 |  This is certainly the greatest moment in my rugby career |
But Gatland was adamant that their cup upset would not derail their league progress.
"We have some work to do and we know we have to get things right for that. This was a bit of a reality check," he said.
"Some of our players are not as good as they thought they were."
Bees head coach Phil Maynard hoped his side's win would act as a good advert for lower league rugby.
Maynard said: "The Zurich Premiership have been trying to shut out our league and ignore us for a very long time.
"Hopefully, this victory opened up a few eyes and highlighted that there is good rugby beyond the Premiership.
"This is certainly the greatest moment in my rugby career. I knew the team could step up to the challenge.
"I was surprised by Wasps.
"Their half-backs were not at their best and we knew we could take them on having played against them when they were at London Welsh."
MMIX
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