Bevan French celebrated his new four-year deal with a stellar display as Wigan walloped Leigh.
The Super League champions announced their Aussie superstar, 28, was staying put on Wednesday. And barely 24 hours later the silky stand-off turned on the style as Wigan emphatically bounced back from their Good Friday loss at St Helens. That was their first league defeat since July but there was no hangover even without banned props Liam Byrne and Tyler Dupree.
Man of Steel French and livewire Aussie full-back Jai Field ripped lame Leigh to pieces, leaving the Challenge Cup holders with just one win in six. This local derby is dubbed the Battle of the Borough but there was little fight from Adrian Lam’s side and it was more like Bedlam in the Borough. Wigan, who finished with eight different try-scorers, raced into a 20-0 lead inside just 28 minutes.
Abbas Miskas opened the scoring from Field’s cut-out pass. And when Leigh’s Matt Moylan was sin-binned for a 12th minute high tackle on Field, the visitors quickly struck again. French dabbed in a perfect grubber for Willie Isa, 35, to slide over. It was the veteran forward’s first try in more than two-and-a-half years.
Even when Leigh were back up to 13, there was no stopping Wigan. They scored back-to-back tries when Patrick Mago blasted up the middle and offloaded for Field. He found French who followed up his own kick to score after Leigh centre Ricky Leutele made a hash of trying to clear.
In the next set, hooker Kruise Leeming exposed some awful defence on halfway to send Harry Smith scampering over for their fourth try. Smith slotted the second of his four goals before Leutele finally responded with a 32nd minute try. Moylan converted but was off-cue with a penalty attempt following Miskas’ late hit on Gareth O’Brien.
It didn’t matter as Wigan quickly doused any hopes of a comeback at the start of the second period. O’Brien’s poor kick was mopped up by Smith who immediately sent Field racing 90m for a spectacular try. Adam Keighran exposed more shoddy defence to score next. Impressive Cameroon forward Junior Nsemba, 19, made the most of his rare chance with his first Super League try.
But French was a constant threat and Wigan boss Matt Peet admitted: “Nothing surprises you with him does it? He comes up with unexpected moments and that’s what makes it really hard for defences to close down. He commits to our gameplan but he’s also got that X-Factor talent that no one sees coming. It’s what people come to watch.
“I also enjoyed Junior’s try. I’m not going to say I’ll ever get bored of Bevan and Marshy scoring tries, but I do love to see young lads enjoy their moment like that. It was a big night for him. I’m pleased for Willie [Isa], too. He’s great for us and does so much unselfish stuff.”
The hosts responded via Josh Charnley, Moylan improving. But England centre Jake Wardle pirouetted through more shambolic Leigh defence to send Liam Marshall in. Lam said: “I'm not going to give up hope; they're a great bunch of lads. We've just got to learn from moments like this and stick together as a group."
Warrington have paid a fee to secure Bradford prop Daniel Okoro, 20, from Bradford who, in turn, have taken Huddersfield’s Fenton Rogers on loan just days after he was suspended and charged with drink driving.