The first transatlantic team in rugby league are overwhelming favourites to win promotion to Super League at the first attempt via the Qualifiers, but by the end of this game the Toronto Wolfpack had learned an important lesson.

Given the array of talent the Wolfpack have assembled in their quest to reach the promised land it was perhaps no surprise that after 25 minutes of this Challenge Cup tie they were ahead against this country’s form side.

However, things turned sour for the Canadian side – and the manner in which their discipline abandoned them will have sent a clear message that, unless they smarten up that part of their game, promotion may not quite be the formality some expect this summer.

Their coach was quick to admit the Wolfpack were their own worst enemies here. “It certainly doesn’t enhance our reputation,” Paul Rowley said. “The second half was shambolic from our point of view – I wasn’t impressed. We accept responsibility for not being good enough in terms of our discipline.”

They were ahead by four points when the chaos began, as Liam Kay was sent to the sin-bin for a dangerous tackle on the Warrington wing Josh Charnley. But when Andrew Dixon was sent off two minutes before half-time for punching the Warrington youngster Harvey Livett, Toronto collapsed.

At one stage they were playing with 10 men after Josh McCrone and Darcy Lussick were sent to the sin-bin following two incidents of dissent. Against a side in such scintillating form as Warrington, there was likely to be just one outcome once the Wolfpack had begun to implode – and the Wolves scored 56 unanswered points in little over 40 minutes to emphatically book a quarter-final showdown with Wigan.

“There were 24 penalties and all of them were warranted,” their coach, Steve Price, said. “Ben Thaler controlled it very well but it was like Lord of The Rings, watching that. It’s one of the slowest games I’ve been involved in. It wasn’t a great look for the game, to be honest.”

Toronto had begun much the better of the two sides, and after Adam Higson and Kay scored two well‑worked tries it was hard to argue with the 8-0 early lead they had established. Mike Cooper soon opened Warrington’s scoring, before a penalty from the boot of Ryan Brierley pushed Toronto’s lead back out to four points.

From there, though, matters turned ugly. And when Dixon was sent off before the break Charnley’s try put the Wolves ahead by two: they would not fall behind again. In all there were 10 tries in that second half, including three for the winger Tom Lineham.

Before that, the two tries in four minutes while Toronto were playing with only 10 men were crucial – in effect, they killed off any chance the Wolfpack had of victory. As the half wore on their discipline continued to worsen, allowing Warrington to progress with somewhat of a canter by the end.

Warrington will now meet last year’s finalists Wigan in a rerun of the 2016 Super League Grand Final. “It will be a cracking game,” Price said. “Wigan-Warrington games are always tough, brutal games.”

In the other quarter-finals, the holders Hull will travel to the Super League leaders St Helens, Leigh will face Leeds Rhinos and Huddersfield will host Catalans Dragons. The last-eight games will be played on the weekend of 2-3 June.