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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