It was John Kear, the rugby league coach who created Challenge Cup history with Sheffield Eagles in 1998, who described coaching as chaos, a sentiment Daryl Powell would certainly agree with right now.
For three weeks, it appeared a seamless transition into the role of Warrington head coach for Powell, with three successive wins to start the new Super League season and his tenure at the club. But his exasperated reactions here as his side’s Challenge Cup hopes slipped away in excruciating fashion emphasised how the honeymoon period is now emphatically over for him.
This is now four consecutive defeats in all competitions and, although they have endured more convincing losses in that run, this result will be the toughest to take. Not since 2008 have Warrington failed to make the Challenge Cup quarter-finals but this year they will be watching from home.
They will be watching a Wakefield side who more than merited their place in the last eight, where they will face Wigan. Trinity’s fortunes in 2022 have almost been a mirror image of Warrington’s; they were winless in the opening month but they now have three in succession. Here, they battled back from a 12-6 half‑time deficit to keep Warrington scoreless in the second half and score two remarkable tries of their own to edge a thrilling cup encounter.
The boos from the Warrington fans at full time struck a chord. Expectations are high in this part of the rugby league world, with plenty of high-earning international stars in the Wolves’ ranks. But as they toiled to try and vanquish Wakefield to no avail, the frustrations from almost everyone associated with the club were palpable.
“It’s tough to take, really tough to take,” Powell said. “We’re not performing well and we’re getting rattled. Wakefield sensed that and they had the players to take advantage. I knew there’d be some work to do and it’s a little bit harder than we thought, but we’ve got to hold our nerve.”
Trinity took advantage in the second half, with two tries in as many minutes proving to be decisive enough. After Reece Lyne broke from deep to touch down, in the following set Wakefield produced the move of the match.
Mason Lino, Wakefield’s mercurial scrum-half, was at the heart of it, just like he was for everything the visitors did well. Trinity kept the ball alive in impressive fashion, with Max Jowitt holding his nerve and providing the clinical pass for Corey Hall to put Wakefield ahead for the first time. They had the wherewithal and resilience at the opposite end to ensure that four-point lead would be enough by the full-time hooter.
“The whole objective at this stage is to get into the hat,” Willie Poching, Wakefield’s coach, said. It is the first time in three years that Wakefield have reached the quarter‑finals but, in the early exchanges, it looked unlikely they would emerge victorious. Warrington raced into a 12-0 lead when Josh Thewlis and Connor Wrench crossed for tries but, as the half wore on, Wakefield dug deep and clawed their way back into a contest that looked at one stage to be slipping away.
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Their resilience paid off when Lewis Murphy crossed in the corner just before half-time, with Lino converting from the touchline. They were unfortunate not to perhaps get another try when Kelepi Tanginoa was visibly pulled back as he raced for a kick on the half‑time hooter, but the referee, Jack Smith, opted against penalising the chasing Warrington defenders.
But after half-time the balance of power swung firmly in Wakefield’s favour as Lino took control, laying on the tries for Lyne and Hall. All eyes then fell on Warrington to see how they would respond to falling behind for the first time but, in a theme that is fast becoming familiar for Wolves supporters, they and Powell ultimately ended up frustrated.
