WIGAN WARRIORS 48 TOULOUSE OLYMPIQUE 18
DAVID KUZIO, The Brick Community Stadium, Saturday

BEVAN FRENCH was Toulouse’s chief tormentor as Wigan had to come from behind to see off a spirited Toulouse outfit and go second in the table.

Wigan edged a very bizarre but entertaining opening 40 minutes in which they lost a twelve-point lead – established in part through a wonderful French try – before Noah Hodkinson nudged them back ahead by half-time.

Zack Eckersley and Liam Marshall completed try doubles in the second half while Sam Eseh and Jai Field also crossed for a win that was anything but comfortable.

An early penalty gave Toulouse good territory and they quickly silenced the home fans with the opening try. They opted to go right and a neat offload from Ethan Quai-Ward saw Paul Ulberg step inside George O’Loughlin to touch down. César Rougé converted for a 6-0 lead.

That score woke the Warriors up and after Hodkinson and French both went close, Harry Smith found French and the Australian sent out a sublime cut-out ball to Eckersley.

It was all Wigan now and they took the lead in the 18th minute with another moment of brilliance from French. With seemingly nothing on and running down blind alleys, he threw an outrageous dummy that baffled the Toulouse defence before getting the ball down.

An outstanding team try saw them extend their lead further. On the last tackle, Smith and Field combined to find O’Loughlin and the centre, in for the injured Jake Wardle, provided a superb offload for Liam Marshall to score in the corner.

Smith’s three goals made it 18-6 and the game looked over at this point, but Toulouse had other ideas.

A penalty for the visitors saw them launch only their second real attack, and again they posted points. A grubber kick from Brendan Hands was touched down by centre Roméo Tropis.

Their second score in five minutes was a brilliant individual one from Rougé, who picked up a tap back from a high kick then saw his grubber kick deflected off Smith and back into his hands.

By adding both the goals, Rougé brought his side level, but the Warriors retook the lead in the last minute of the half with Kaide Ellis, French and Field all touching the ball before Hodkinson went in at the corner. Smith converted to make it 24-18 at the break.

The first score after the break was going to be crucial and it fell to Wigan. French took the ball to the right, he found Eckersley who quickly offloaded to Hodkinson, and the winger then kept his composure to turn the ball back for Eckersley to grab his second try.

Toulouse looked like they were tiring as they conceded two soft penalties. The Warriors opted to run the ball and Eseh – who had only been on the field a minute or two – barged his way over from close range.

Wigan were reduced to twelve men with Brad O’Neill shown a yellow card for a dangerous tackle and Toulouse enjoyed quite a bit of possession on Wigan’s line, but could not find a way past a structured home defence.

A second half full of errors and tired penalties only briefly came to life in the 70th minute when French made another break and put a kick through for Field to chase and score.

Marshall ended the scoring in the 78th minute with an acrobatic effort in the corner following great work from Field, and Smith’s continued perfection off the tee meant a 30-point victory margin.

GAMESTAR: Bevan French makes things happen and he did that when he needed to as he helped guide Wigan to victory.

GAMEBREAKER: Zach Eckersley’s second try five minutes into the second half gave Toulouse too much to do, and they never looked like beating Wigan after that.

HIGHLIGHT REEL: The way Bevan French tricked the Toulouse defence for his try was breathtaking.

ALBERT GOLDTHORPE POINTS
3 pts Bevan French (Wigan)
2 pts Zach Eckersley (Wigan)
1 pt Jai Field (Wigan)

MATCHFACTS

WARRIORS
1 Jai Field
28 Noah Hodkinson
2 Zach Eckersley
33 George O’Loughlin
5 Liam Marshall
6 Bevan French
7 Harry Smith
8 Ethan Havard
9 Brad O’Neill
10 Luke Thompson
14 Sam Walters
17 Oliver Partington
13 Kaide Ellis
Subs (all used)
15 Patrick Mago
20 Sam Eseh
23 Kian McDermott
25 Taylor Kerr
18th man (not used)
41 Shea O’Connor
Also in 21-man squad
4 Jake Wardle
37 Josh Cartwright
38 Austin Daniel

Tries: Eckersley (10, 45), French (18), Marshall (23, 78), Hodkinson (39), Eseh (51), Field (70)
Goals: Smith 8/8
Sin bin: O’Neill (56) – dangerous tackle

OLYMPIQUE
25 Luke Polselli
5 Benjamin Laguerre
19 Roméo Tropis
39 Ethan Quai-Ward
2 Paul Ulberg
6 Thomas Lacans
29 César Rougé
17 Rob Butler
9 Brendan Hands
8 Lambert Belmas
11 Maxime Stefani
41 Louis Grossemy
15 Joe Cator
Subs (all used)
10 James Roumanos
13 Anthony Marion
20 AJ Wallace
27 Hugo Garrigues
18th man (not used)
32 Victor Collin
Also in 21-man squad
4 Paul Marcon
12 Mathieu Jussaume
40 John Toleafoa

Tries: Ulberg (5), Tropis (29), Rougé (34)
Goals: Rougé 3/3

SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-6, 6-6, 12-6, 18-6, 18-12, 18-18, 24-18; 30-18, 36-18, 42-18, 48-18

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Warriors: Bevan French; Olympique: César Rougé

Penalty count: 7-8
Half-time: 24-18
Referee: Tom Grant
Attendance: 16,889