The Bulls must beat the masters at their own game to stand any chance of reaching the Challenge Cup quarter-finals.

Mick Potter has warned his players to be up for a ruck or risk embarrassment at the hands of Wigan on Sunday.

The reigning Super League champions are experts of the tackle and controlling the play-the-ball will be vital to victory at Odsal.

It is an area where the Bulls have struggled in recent weeks, notably during last week’s defeat at Hull KR, and Potter has put in long hours in a bid to solve the problem.

He said: “If the other team do get a quick play-the-ball it’s hard to be aggressive in the defensive line. So you virtually take it on ruck to ruck.

“We’re not dominating enough rucks and consequently can’t get any line-speed. You get stripped of numbers on one side of the field, which is happening to us a lot.

“We need to be able to dominate teams a little bit more in the ruck and there’s no greater challenge than this week.

“Wigan are very good at winning the ruck defensively and in offence.

“It’ll be a good challenge for us and we’ve been practising this week to try and build our ruck speed and come up with a couple of plays to help us out.”

Wigan have re-established themselves as powerhouses of the English game since the arrival of coach Michael Maguire last season.

The highly-rated Aussie, who will leave at the end of the campaign to take the top job at South Sydney, is the source of the controversial wrestling techniques that have allowed his team to control the ruck.

Dominance in that area provides the platform for the Warriors’ array of game-breakers to go to work but Potter insists they are beatable.

He said: “I’m very happy it’s at home and I don’t mind it’s against Wigan because at least you can say you’re playing one of the best teams in the competition.

“Now let’s see if we can take it a step further in the cup and come out with the win.

“You’ve got to play as physical as they play and you’ve got to be prepared to pass the ball down their end. You’ve got to be prepared to chance your hand.

“They’re not impossible to beat but they’re very difficult to beat. I’ve watched a heap of footage and if we execute our plays, we have a chance.

“If we do what we’ve done in the last couple of weeks and come up with a lot of errors down our own end, it’ll be a mountain to climb.

“If we cut that out first, it’ll give us a chance to play down their end and then we can execute some plays as well.”

Errors have been the story of the Bulls’ season.

Despite frequently looking capable of winning games, Potter’s side have too often been architects of their own downfall.

Missed tackles and a lack of aggression in defence have combined with dropped ball and a lack of organisation in attack to make the losses stack up.

“It’s been the story of the last six or seven weeks that we’re doing some good things but we’re doing too many poor things,” said Potter.

“The coaches are after perfection every week. It’s difficult to get but at the moment, we’re not balancing the ledger.

“We’re doing too many poor things and not enough good things and we need to get that scale a little bit different.

“Wigan will put some points on us if we don’t get that right.

“But there is some optimism among the players. If we just do some things a little bit differently we can certainly affect the outcome of the game.

“They’re not massive things. They’re controlling possession, kicking the ball in the right area and controlling the ruck defensively.

“There’s no accounting for a couple of ricocheted kicks the other team got last weekend. Sometimes that happens but you’ve got to put yourself in a position to be able to get those loose balls.”