Catalans 10-32 Wigan: Warriors prevail in Perpignan

Match stats: Catalans 10-32 Wigan

Catalans tries:  Duport (25,47)
Catalans goals: Walsh (48) 

Wigan tries:  Burgess (20,60,80), Williams (66), Tomkins (75)
Wigan goals: Williams (20,29,57,67,76,80)  

Match report

A final-quarter rally from champions Wigan earned them a 32-10 at Catalans Dragons.

The game was locked at 10-10 prior to the hour mark, before the Warriors pulled clear to take the points and cheer up coach Shaun Wane, left behind after a hip operation.

The opening quarter saw both sides complete their sets and play on the back of a solid kicking game. Only a brief opportunity saw Brayden Williame go close.

Wigan opened the scoring in the 20th minute. A neat play down the left saw George Williams put in a kick for Joe Burgess to chase and the Wigan winger raced down the left before being ankle-tapped by a chasing Krisnan Inu.

However, the tackle was not completed and Burgess was able to crawl over the line to open the scoring. Williams added the conversion to give the visitors a six-point advantage.

Catalans came back into the game following that try, Vincent Duport winning the race to dot down after Luke Walsh and Lucas Albert combined. Walsh missed the converstion.

But Wigan extended their lead almost immediately.

Paul Aiton was penalised for obstruction on a chasing Wigan player after the ball had been allowed to bounce, and Williams elected to kick at goal to give the Warriors a four-point lead.

Catalans continued to attack the Wigan line, only a for a knock-on or misplaced pass to halt them.

Seven minutes after the restart, the Catalans hit the front. Two penalties gifted them field position to attack the Wigan line, a last-tackle kick to the left corner from Walsh was collected by Duport who was able to collect the ball and touchdown for his second try of the game.

Walsh added the conversion to give the hosts a 10-8 lead.

Short of the hour mark, Catalans were penalised for messing around at the play the ball, Williams elected to kick at goal to level the game at 10-10.

That was the catalyst for Wigan to show some of their attacking flair.

On the hour they scored a remarkable try that saw the ball go through eight sets of hands before heading to Burgess on the left and the England international raced to touch down in the corner. Williams was unable to add the conversion and the score remained 10-14.

A Sam Tomkins grubber forced a goal-line drop-out in the 65th minute, and Wigan again made the home side pay.

Williams was allowed to run across the Catalans defensive line from left to right before dummying to his right and darting through some tired defence to score despite the best efforts of Albert. Williams converted his own to try to give the Warriors some breathing space with a 10-point lead.

With six minutes remaining, a last-tackle Michael McIlorum grubber close to the Catalans line bobbled around before being collected by Tony Gigot.

The Catalans full-back lost possession of the ball close to his own tryline and Tomkins was on hand to touch down the loose ball to score his first try of 2017 and seal the win for Wigan. Williams added the conversion to take the score to 10-26.

The icing on the cake came in the closing minutes. A wide miss pass from Williams to the left could only be touched with Inu's fingertips and the ball fell kindly to Burgess who collected the ball and raced over from short range to seal his hat-trick. Williams added the touchline conversion.

Match reaction

Wigan assistant John Winder on the victory: "I was really pleased with the result. For 60 minutes I thought it was a real arm wrestle and it was a really tough game.

"Both sides were very competitive. We just stuck at it and got through that 60-minute mark and things just started to open up for us.

"I thought we got what we deserved and we stuck with the process long enough and we managed to snag a couple of tries before the momentum went with us at the end."

Winder on the hot conditions: "It was very tough, for both sides. It was very hot out there and a really physical game. 

"I thought the quality of the game was really high, the opening 15 minutes saw both teams complete in the high eighties and there weren't a lot of errors.

"The game was played with plenty of intent and at the end of the day we just had to hang in there."

Catalans head coach Steve McNamara on the outcome: "I thought it was a really tough game, it was a fantastic arm wrestle for 60 to 65 minutes, there was not a lot to choose between the two teams - in fact I think we were two tries to one up.

"It was really pleasing that we were in that contest but really disappointed with the last 15 minutes. I don't think we deserved that scoreline.

"Having said that, if you give Wigan those opportunities they'll take them and that's what they did. I think that our performance today was a whole lot better than our win over Leigh last weekend.

"They prepared really well all week - clearly we had a number of players missing for a variety of reasons - but I think it showed today that our preparation had been good, it's just disappointing that the scoreboard went where it went for us today because I don't think we deserved that.

"We can take a lot of positives out of that and hopefully we can improve next week as much as we have this week going into next week's game against St Helens.