Analysing Bevan French’s glorious Wigan return as Warriors thump Wakefield Trinity
Bevan French in action for Wigan Warriors in 2025
‘Bevan French is magic‘ sung the South Stand at The Brick Community Stadium on Sunday afternoon as Wigan Warriors’ star man inspired their win over Wakefield Trinity: and he is that.
Australian ace French had missed Wigan’s last seven games prior to Sunday through a calf injury, with his last appearance coincidentally coming in a defeat against Wakefield at Belle Vue on June 20.
The Warriors lost three of the seven games he missed, including last week’s crunch home clash against Hull KR, which more than likely will see them relinquish their grip on the Super League Leaders’ Shield in a few weeks time.
His inclusion against Trinity came as a surprise, with head coach Matt Peet having stated that he was still a few weeks away from a return in his pre-match press conference earlier this week.
Mind games? Who knows, but the overriding emotion for all of a Warriors persuasion will be joy that Super League’s best player is back in the fold.
Analysing Bevan French’s glorious Wigan return as Warriors thump Wakefield Trinity
On Sunday, French seamlessly slipped back into Peet’s side alongside Harry Smith in the halves as if he’d never been away, and we never expected anything difference.
The 29-year-old looked sharp from the off and possessed a hunger to deliver, which he came close to doing ten minutes in when only a quality interception from Wakefield winger Tom Johnstone denied him an assist.
Just a few minutes later though, he had that assist: threading the needle with a delightful grubber kick through for Adam Keighran to race on to and ground.
Then came the moment all in Cherry and White had been waiting for, as he chased on to his own kick and grounded it underneath the sticks for a ‘welcome back’ try.
There was some fortune around that, with the ball hitting the post pad to allow him to get it back in hand, but they say you make your own luck, and they’d be right on this occasion.
A sumptuous offload to Liam Farrell in a tackle just after the half-hour mark ended in Zach Eckersley dotting down out wide, and Wigan led 18-2 at the break, with French having had a starring role in earning all three of their tries.
The playmaker wasn’t done there in attack, but more impressive in the second half were his efforts defensively, showing few signs of fatigue despite such a length absence.
Having helped to drag Max Jowitt into touch just before the hour-mark, he then raced back to execute a perfect cover tackle on Mathieu Cozza a few minutes later, preventing a certain try as he forced a knock on from the Trinity man.
And in his final act before being withdrawn with 13 minutes left on the clock, with the game well won and Wigan rightly wrapping him in cotton wool, the half-back picked the perfect pass to Farrell who threaded again on to Eckersley for a walk-in in the corner.
A standing ovation came from the home stands as French was withdrawn, and another followed with 40 seconds remaining as he was announced as the sponsor’s man-of-the-match in the ground.
You’d be brave to back against Wigan in any game now before the end of the season with him back: and Luke Thompson has to come back into the mix at some point yet.
44-2 was the dominant final scoreline against a side in Wakefield that are likely to be involved in the play-offs that hadn’t been stopped from scoring a try all season before Sunday.
Maybe, just maybe, the Warriors are cooking nicely. After all, if they win their four remaining games, second spot is theirs regardless of what anyone else does.
SUNDAY’S READS ON LRL
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