WIGAN WARRIORS coach Matt Peet was a party-pooper in Perpignan when he put the brakes on any premature celebrations following his team’s stunning victory over league leaders Catalans Dragons.
Over a thousand Wigan fans celebrated late into the night following an unexpected 34-0 rout at Stade Gilbert Brutus, with a hat-trick by Abbas Miski and some Bevan French polish the highlights of a famous night in the south of France for the Warriors.
Coach Peet is keen that his team doesn’t get too carried away by the scoreline, insisting they will ‘get punished’ if they don’t maintain the intense focus they put into preparing for the trip to France.
He said: ”We did everything right tonight but we won’t be getting carried away, we haven’t won anything yet.
“As we’ve shown so far this season, we need to be more consistent. If our performances dip, we are very beatable and this is the challenge we face.
“The fans played a huge part in this win, not many clubs come here and make that impression on this ground, even coming in and driving into the stadium the fans cheered them in. This is a club of high expectation.”
Peet stressed the need to maintain the standards shown on Saturday night, adding, “I’ve just been in the dressing room and told the players how proud I was of them and stressed that our main focus now is replicating it.”
Peet was impressed with his entire team but singled out injured props Tyler Dupree and Liam Byrne for special praise and hat-trick hero Abbas Miski.
He said: “Last year Abbas was learning and improving, he had some spells out on loan so everything he is getting now he deserves. He’s got a great work ethic and drive and also good chemistry with the players around him, which is so important.
“I thought there were a lot of standout performances tonight. We had good balance and that’s what you need when you come here because there are a lot of things to test you.
“But our forwards were immense, and took some hits. Tyler will miss next week with that knock he took at the end. I’m not sure yet, but it seems he has failed a head-injury assessment. I like the way Liam Byrne played; he took a knock early on but he’s the type of player who can take a knock.
“We were up against a great, mature pack of forwards that Catalans have, they have a stacked bench as well. I like what our forwards did tonight and I liked what we’re all about.”
