Wigan Warriors coach reveals Bevan French injury setback as Liam Marshall latest delivered

Wigan are preparing to be without star man Bevan French for at least two weeks through a recurrence of a calf strain, but Liam Marshall will line up against Castleford Tigers, Warriors boss Matt Peet has confirmed.

French was an unused interchange in Wigan’s win at Salford Red Devils prior to the break for the Challenge Cup final.

He was then rested entirely against Huddersfield Giants, before returning and playing the full 80 in last weekend’s shock defeat at newly-promoted Wakefield Trinity.

But now, it would appear he will return back to the sidelines for at least a fortnight, news the Cherry and Whites could have done without as they try to claw back a four-point deficit to Hull KR at the top of the Super League ladder.

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Wigan Warriors coach reveals Bevan French injury setback as Liam Marshall latest delivered

The Warriors travel to West Yorkshire on Saturday night for their Round 16 clash against strugglers Castleford, who they still have to take on both away and at home this term.

In Tuesday afternoon’s pre-match press conference, Peet revealed the news on French, saying: “Bevan’s calf has tightened up again, so that’s going to need another look at, but other than that I think we’re good barring the longer-term ones.

“It won’t be a worry. There’s a chance that he has re-strained his calf, but we’ll wait until we get the scan results back.

“That can happen all the time. I rested him (against Salford and Huddersfield), but his calf was fine.

“He’s injured it since then, so it would be a recurrence of a two-to-three-week injury. Hopefully it’s nothing more than that.”

Elsewhere, winger Marshall was limping heavily come the end of the defeat at Wakefield last week, with many suggesting that any potential injury woe for the homegrown ace could pave the way for rugby union convert Christian Wade’s Super League debut.

While Peet confirmed Marshall would be fine to take to the field at Cas on Saturday, he also had some special praise for Wade, who has been brought in until the end of the season following the conclusion of Gloucester’s Premiership Rugby campaign.

The Cherry and Whites boss said: “He (Marshall) got a couple of knocks, but that’s all it was, to be honest.

“He was a bit banged up after the game, but he should be alright.

“Christian’s been outstandingly good in practice but more so around the environment. He seems very popular amongst the group and he was good for the reserves at the weekend.

“He looks very natural to say he’s new to the game. We’ll keep monitoring him through training and the reserves over the next week or two, but he could well feature in the squad. He isn’t a million miles away.

“He’s yet to play a Super League game, but some of the fundamentals of rugby league that I thought he would take more time to pick up, he’s got a decent grasp on.

“That’s because he’s been so diligence and so hard working. He accepts that he’s got a lot to learn, so he’s committing to it wholeheartedly.”

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