Wellens cannot fault depleted Saints after Cup loss

St Helens boss Paul Wellens says he cannot fault his side for how they adapted to losing key players during their Challenge Cup quarter-final defeat by Warrington Wolves.

Second rower Curtis Sironen had to leave the field for a head injury assessment (HIA) - which he eventually passed - leading to Jake Wingfield coming on from the bench before he was sidelined for a HIA of his own which he eventually failed.

Saints then lost Mark Percival to another HIA and despite a second-half fightback, Wire captain George Williams eventually scored the decisive try to send the hosts through.

"You don't envisage losing players in the manner that we did. It can happen. We had two second rows playing centre and middle units in the back row," Wellens told BBC Radio Merseyside.

"I'm really proud of the players and the way they handled that disruption. But obviously the overriding emotion is huge disappointment in not making it through to the semis.

"We were moving the ball really effectively to an edge to space, but if you've got back rows in the centre, you can't expect Joe Batchelor and Matt Whitley to do what Harry Robinson and Mark Percival will do.

"The two guys were putting their hand up for the team and doing a good job so we can't really fault anybody in that respect."

After Percival came off, Saints were forced to deploy 18th man James Bell for the remainder of the tie as they put in a creditable performance under the circumstances.

They have felt the impact of HIAs more than most teams of late however, as they arrived at the Halliwell Jones Stadium without centre Harry Robertson who also failed an assessment in their narrow win at Catalans.

Despite his absence and their loss of personnel at Warrington, Wellens was pragmatic about his side's fortunes and wants them to press ahead with their season.

"We have to deal with the circumstances, there's no point whinging and moaning about it," Wellens added.

"Obviously we'll come away from this game and find some solutions. We're light particularly in the outside backs at the moment.

"It's like what championship teams do and all championship teams have to handle those situations and that's what we're going to need to do."